Downfall of the Light 3
by OpposingForce
Summary: After several days of enduring against the Sound from invading, Naruto and Hinata finally meet their elites. NaruHina, and many others. Spoilers... none, hopefully
1. Deep Insights

_**Downfall of the Light 3**_

**_Chapter 1: Deep Insights_**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in any way or Warcraft3. I only own the OCs that I created! Not to mention the entire plot!

Legend:

"…" Speech

'…': Thoughts.

Bolded italic brackets mean scenario change and new situation.

_**AN: This is my third fiction, the final set of the Downfall of the Light Trilogy. Not only that, this volume is mainly focusing on Naruto's son and daughter. Before I get sued, let's talk about where I got the names so I wouldn't be sued for plagiarism. Here is a small list that you may need to know so I won't need to appear in court. Court is too annoying for me. Downfall of the Light Trilogy was very fun and thrillingfor me to write, hopefully you guys would continue to appreciate the hard work I went through to publish/post this. Thank you so all so much for your endless support, I couldn't have done it without you! Let's get onto the real business.**_

_**Uzumaki Shani's name came from Forbidden Gundam's pilot, Shani Andras. His physical attributes resembles the original character fully, especially the hair. **_

_**Uzumaki Kagari came from Cagalli Yula Athha in Gundam Seed. I spelled Kagari this way for AnimeJunkies' translation was like this and with the K… it sounds more Japanese. That's in my opinion though and I will stick with it. **_

_**Asuran came from Athrun Zala (pilot of Aegis and Justice Gundam) in Gundam Seed, I really like him too. The translation also came from AnimeJunkies.**_

_**Kuroto came from Crot Buer (Raider Gundam's pilot), they pronounce Crot into Ku-Ro-To in Seed and regardless of how I like the name, there is no possible way that I would name him Crot, so Kuroto it is! **_

_**Umi… just like the name a lot, it came from no reference that I know of. **_

_**Yamase, I think she is the brown hair girl in Maburaho that is in love with Shikimori Kazuki, I really like her sincerity. **_

_**Tsubasa, a real friend of mine who is obviously Japanese, I found this name very convenient so I used it in one of the characters.**_

_**Finally, Hikaru… a name I found in the forum that I joined. **_

_**After reading this, there should be no suing and I will be more than happy to continue this third part of the fiction. If you want to know more about Shani and Kagari's past and heritage before this age, it will be explained in the Second volume, which is not complete yet. I want to see if you readers like this so far or should I remake this chapter completely. Anyway, enjoy!**_

_**(First person POV)**_

When I was sleeping peacefully one morning after a hard working night, an infernal sound immediately disrupted it, thus, causing me to wake up. In my infuriated state, I attracted my scythe by generating chakra in my palm -this skill was something that my father taught me when I was even younger-before I sliced horizontally. Therefore, I hacked the clock in two. Of course, that might've silenced the damn thing and eased my rage but I was already wide awake. Giving a sigh of frustration, I dropped my weapon onto the floor before staring at the mess I made.

I sure hoped there was a way to fix this damn clock, it would be tough since the floor was all filled with pieces of metal. Then again, it wasn't like I didn't have the money to simply buy another one. Two-hundred yen should be more than enough -if I ever wanted a cheap one that was.

It was strange for a child like me at seven-years-old to ponder that much further into the realm of psychology. I admitted that muchbut I was always someone that had a much deeper insight of things. As far as I was concerned, I knew I was nothing like a child. I was considered someone who had never been a kid before and already starting pre-adulthood without experiencing puberty. My mother sometimes asked my father this question: If he can't even be immature when he's a kid, what can I expect him to do?

Good question indeed, and that he my mother was referring to was obviously me.

As I rubbed the left side of my forehead -which was covered by my long hair- I emitted a groan knowing that I had to wake up. Sleep was not as enjoyable as people mentioned it to be. I remember my uncle telling me once that he wished he slept well more often when he was younger. I seriously wonder what he meant by that. To me, sleep was something that I should be doing since there wasn't anything better to do at nightfall. Looking at the clock on the wall -it said it was 8:02 AM- it would be a good time to get out of bed to brush up.

I stoically opened the door to exit my nearly pitch black room while allowing some light to enter before I closed it shut.

Being a boy, I never took too long to brush my teeth, wash my face, and possibly take a small morning shower to refresh myself. Ten minutes was more than enough, and sometimes an additional two minutes wouldn't hurt that much. Once I walked out of the washroom with my visible right eyesince my left eye was covered by my hair, I was showing the world that I preferred silence over raudiness.

My advice to almost everyone: If you want me to be happy, leave me alone.

Like how I did things nearly every morning, I took out something black or grey to put on and carried my scythe like a grim reaper would. My choice of clothes were a pair of black jeans, a grey T-shirt and a thin black jacket. Unless I was in a more delightful mood, dark clothing would refuse to leave my skin. I had no forehead protector yet, nor did it matter sinceI could seriously care less until it was my time to graduate in the academy. If you wanted my honest opinion, if my friends weren't in the same class as I was I would've torched the school down for wasting my time ever so repeatedly.

Although this was a house, it didn't take long for me to make it to the living room. My father was already there reading a book, and my mother was cooking us her incredibly delicious food for us in the kitchen. I smiled when I smelled the appealing aroma. I really didn't know how my mother could be so talented in cooking. Long ago,I asked her once but even she didn't know. It was a natural interest, as she would say, just like how she skillfully avoided the true answer of how she loved my father.

Mother frequently taught me how to become a light in other people's lives, and someday others will treat me the same way. Kind of like the saying "Love your neighbour as yourself" in which I agreed very much upon but up to this day I still have not seen much results. My mother was a kind woman, not to mention a very loving, considerate, reliable, sincere, reasonable, gentle, supportive, caring, genuine, and her qualities could go on for ages.

Seriously now, after proving all these legitimate reasons it wasno wonder why my father loved my mother so much. Then again, who wouldn't want a loving woman to love them until their world crumbles to the ground? Better yet, she would be there to support them emotionally, and willing to stand until the very end. There weren't a lot of those people around the globe. In all honesty, such committed people to me were nearly considered extinct (Unless it was a true, genuine, loving marriage. That was different). What a gentle person Mother was to everyone. If I was good enough to assume, I was sure a lot of people wanted to be in my father's position.

Father -who sensed my presence promptly- stopped his reading and gave me a warm smile without words. I knew that smile all too well, he was trying to say good morning, and I got the message promptly. I simply gave a grin of the same fashion, and thatcaused his smile towiden. He didn't say anything though. A normal person would expect an answer verbally, but silence suited him justfine.

Father was a man of a few words. However, whenever he spoke his words were always filled with talented wisdom that made me respect him further. In some instances, it was as if it was a declaration from above, it was like we had to give genuine respect. He was very young, too. Father was only twenty-four at the time and he knew how to set a perfect example for me to follow. I then signaled him to say thatI would head to the living room and have some quiet time to myself. I preferred reading or listening to music before breakfast officially began. Having no problems with my request, Father simply nodded with agrin telling me to get there before Mother noticed me.

I thought my plan was foolproof, but my attempts crashed and burned when a loud voice came from behind.

"Oni-chan!" a girl shouted at the rear, thus, alerting my mother that I was here. I knew who that was and soon she hugged me tightly not wanting me to leave her side. "Good morning," she then said ever so appealingly.

"Morning, Kagari-chan…" I mumbled still trapped in her grasp as she kissed me on the cheek sweetly like she did all the time. I didn't mind that, I liked her kisses and hugs but not that I would just admit my feelings out loud.

"Why so hesitant, oni-chan?" she asked me innocently with her cute, adorable face. "Don't you like me saying good morning to you?"

"I can't breathe…" I lied faking a gasp. She did release me immediately but still wrapped her arms around mine.

Who was she, you ask? Kagari was my twin sister, she was my fraternal twin. In other words, we didn't look alike. She was only six minutes younger than I, and if you want my opinion she had to be one of the prettiest little girls I have ever witnessed in the seven years of my life. Kagari was two inches shorter than I, she also had long dark blue hair like my mother, but she didn't have her eyes and I didn't have her hair. Mine was silver and I had my mom's special blood limit lavender eyes while Kagari had eyes of my father but a little darker blue to shine her lovable features even more. If she was older, I would refer to it as beauty -but right now she was just extremely endearing. Was she loud? Not very. Iconsideredher to be enthusiastic and very optimistic. My sister loved me very much -and although I was a stoic person-she knew I loved her too.

Not giving any warnings, Kagari kissed me again.Such simple actionsmade Father chuckle a bit before he turned back to his book.

How did I look like, you ask? Aside from the fact I had silver hair and lavender eyes, allow me to explain it further. My hair was naturally spiked up coordinately like Father's however, it was a little long so it fell. I was a boy at above average height, around 125 cm, for my father and mother weren't short people. How did my hair cover two thirds of my left face… I would say it was because my hair grew long and the front fell forward. Therefore, it blocked my left face along with my eye. Long story short, my hair was long enough and it was arranged in a not so organized fashion so it would cover enough of my visage. When people look at me, they could only see my right eye and cheek, nose, lips and my right ear along with silver hair blocking the rest. I had a very sick (intimidating) glare. Almost everyone disliked it if I did it -for it not only shock them, it showed hostility.

What was my reason of hiding my left eye? That was something many wanted to know for I did hide it deliberately. That was my little secret that no one other than Tsunade-sama, my parents, Kagari,and any other adults that my parents trusted most held knowledge of. Personally, I wasn't too sure if I should be proud of something like that -or even be able to think of it as a gift. Father told me that it was nothing to be ashamed of sinceI was still me regardless. Those words lingered in my soul for quite a while now. Yet, I had my doubts but I certainly did not despise it.

Unless my left eye looked identical to my right, I would never reveal it to anyone.

"Good morning, you two!" exclaimed my gorgeous mother warmly as she came towards us. My sister had a cheerful smile on her face when she saw Mother while I (on the other hand) remained emotionless but silently enjoyed her presence. As Kagari wrapped her arms around Mother as shegave her an affectionate hug, Mother held her daughter like any loving parent would. It was long and sweet -nearly sweet enough for me to suffer from diabetes. She soon turned to me and gave me the same hug. I accepted soundlessly without much objection.

I didn't know why Mother always smelled so pleasant without perfume. If she smelled this great without it, just imagine her coated with it. The amazing sweet scent could seduce every male that smelt it, and what would amaze me was that all Mother would've done was smile.

"Morning, kaa-san," I said with a weak grin, like how I always had.

"Why so stoic, Shani-chan?" she asked me with her heart-melting smile. She dropped the subject beforemoving on to kiss meon the forehead. I also knew my hair tickled her cheek when she did that. "You know you shouldn't hide your left eye like that. It makes you look really dangerous. What did kaa-chan tell you about first impressions?"

"It's not like I want to hide it," I said devoid of any passion. "You know why, kaa-san."

"It doesn't matter how you look like, Shani," said my father understandingly. "What's most important is that you have a good heart and always respect another." I smiled back at my dad, and my mom only gave the same smile. Like I said, my father was a man of intelligence. Was it just me or did Mother gave Father a small look. Maybe it was just my imagination -I was looking with only one eye after all.

"I understand, otousan," I replied passively.

"That's my little Shani," cooed Mother as she rubbed my cheek. I liked it when she did that but I preferred not to be called 'little'.It practicallymade me sound like a kindergarten who just graduated from pre-school. I was seven, pre-school was long over. "You know kaa-chan just loves you so much." It wasn't longbefore she kissed my cheek, I knew another part of me would need to go through the experience of unnecessary affection. I grinned at her words for I knew she meant it completely.

"Kaa-chan, what are we having for breakfast?" asked Kagari innocently, changing the subject. Mother smiled sweetly at her as she turned around to face my sister. Of course, my mom gave her a kiss on the nose before she answered. It suddenly struck me. Was kissing an act of spoiling children? Why would I care -I wasn't the parent.

"We have ramen today," answered Motherwhile Father and I left our expressions completely unchanged. "You like that, Kagari-chan?"

"I love ramen!" she exclaimed, emitting a giggle while I could've seriously ignored. "You want ramen, oni-chan?" Why did she drag me into the conversation? Didn't she notice that I wasn't talking for a while? Just because I happened to be quiet didn't mean that I was mute.

"Whatever, as long I live afterwards," I replied with my dark attitude. Father chuckled silently behind his book while Mother looked a bit worriedly at me. Soon enough, that frown was replaced with a smile. I wondered what she would be nervous about, yet I simply forgotten it when Kagari pushed me to the dining table wanting food immediately. Mother was more than too delighted to serve us breakfast.

I ate myshare slowly as whereKagari adorably consumed all of it without eating like a slob. She finished it ten minutes before I did, and it was no shock to see her complaining that I was too slow. She would shake my hand, my body, or jump up and down cutely just to prove how desperate she wanted me to finish. I kept telling her that she should kill her time by making final preparations for school instead of bugging me, but she didn't listen because she loved me.

Come to think of it, was it justifiable? Did it make sense?

Eventually the two of us left the house toreach to the academy -obviously not without Kagari attaching herself to me. Of course my sister had that welcoming aura around her as she went out but I, on the other hand, carried nothing. As I picked up my scythe that was leaning near the door, I silently followed my sister who began torant that I was too slow again. Giving out a sigh, I ran to catch up with her.

"Be good at school!" called out my female parent in a heavenly tone of encouragement. Kagari endearingly smiled back while I nodded like a deadpan as a response trying to keep up with my baby sister's incredible exuberance.

**_(Later on that morning)_**

The two of us arrived at the academy fifteen minutes before class began today. Having nothing better to do, Kagari rushed off to the playground area to join up with her friends (mostly girls and a guy) while my friend came to me. I gave him a smile knowing he was welcoming me. I onlyhad a several friends for I wasn't someone who enjoyed knowing all sorts of people. However, the friends I had right now were my true friends who would help me through thick and thin. My otherones were Kagari's friends since they were close enough to me, sinceI knew most of them from as far as I could remember.

"Hey, Shani," called my best friend Uchiha Asuran. "How are you?"

"Fine, I guess," I replied without much passion but I turned so he could see my right eye instead of watching my hair.

"You coming to work today?" he asked with a friendly look. I simply nodded. "You know, grandpa is going to give you a small raise if you work well today. He really likes you."

"I just work hard," I said bluntly. "Your grandfather is too kind to me. He treats me like his own grandchild. I am beginning to feel a bit…"

"A bit what?"

"Guilty." To my surprise, Asuran laughed to himself. What made my brow raised was that it sounded like a mature laugh. Actually, Asuran was alwaysa solemn person.

"You're just very humble, Shani," commented Asuran considerately.

"Not really…"

"Oh yes, you are. You are getting a raise because you deserve one, man," he said slapping my back as support. "You have been working at the shop since last year, it's a good time to get a raise."

"Are you then?" I questioned obviously not wanting to take all the glory, Asuran earned it too as far as I was concerned. When Asuran nodded, I gave him the same supportive slap on the back and then a small high five where I level my hand and I expect him to hit it. I didn't want to do all the workdespite that it was for thesakeof encouragement.Hyperness was not something my personality showed. "Good job, my friend."

"I couldn't have done it without you," he said.

"I did what I can." I replied as I held my scythe in a more at ease manner.

"You want to join your sister and have a chat?" suggested Asuran kindly.

"There is nothing for me to talk to them about," I said as my eye stared at the playground's direction.

"It wouldn't hurt, you know."

"Fine…"

Asuran knew he won the debate when I agree whether it was graceful or not. He knew he couldn't expect me to enjoy it but to the least my presence was there. The two of us walked towards Kagari and her small ring of friends -who were underneath a tree so they could enjoy the shade. Once Asuran kindly greeted them, I could've sworn Kagari blushed when she saw his smile. I quickly banished those thoughts as I stoically observed each one of them. After regaining her confidence,Kagari then greeted the both of us with her cheery attitude.

Who was Uchiha Asuran? Seriously now, he wasn't Uchiha Sasuke's son. Asuran was Itachi's son. Who was his mother then? Asuran's mother was Ichikaru Ayame, the young lady that worked at Ichikaru Ramen. Obviously, the grandfather Asuran mentioned earlierwas my superior, the main manager who was in charge of my job. Asuran had dark raven hair with a tint of dark blue like Sasuke and Itachi, and his eyes were dull golden like his mom. His skin was like his mom as well, and he was a mini version and a perfect resemblance of his father.

How did Itachi and Ayame get together? I didn't know all the details but Asuran told me that his father saw this indescribable kindness that his mother had. She was the only woman that loved Itachi that was full of genuine desires. Gradually, simple admiration turned into affection, therefore, the two began to love another to the fullest. At the age of twenty one or twenty two, they married and Asuran came to their lives very soon later. They loved him very much like how my parents loved Kagari and I. Their lifestyle was quitesimilar to how any normal reliable parent would. There were no clan regularities since Itachi despised them deeply, and he would rather have Old-Man-Ichikaru and Ayame to raise their son since she at least had a father that loved her. Itachi needed to know what qualities were required to become a father, and Asuran told me some time before that his father was a brilliant man. I asked him how and he told me that Itachi was a very fast learner.

What surprised me was that Ayame-san got pregnant after marriage. Most of my friends didn't come out like that.

"Hey, Asuran," greeted my close friend, Uchiha Kuroto. Kuroto was Asuran's two or three month younger cousin and he had a sister as well. Kuroto was Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Haruno Sakura's son. He was as tall as I was, good looking, having onyx eyes and raven hair. I liked him, he was a very friendly person to be with and talk to… The only times that he turned cold was to anyone who intentionally wanted to be a nuisance. Was he loud? Not really. I could confidently describe Kurotoas a conservative individual like his father.Whenever I am around this Uchiha, I couldn't help myself but to detect a small amount of pressure and stress. I didn't mean that he pressured me in any possible form, I meant that Kuroto always seemed to be edgy around something. "Hello, Shani." I merely nodded without saying a word, they all knew howI usually responded.

"Morning, Kuroto," said Asuran as he stood next to Kagari involuntarily. Once again, Kagari blushed and tried to be small, andI only snickered to myself for I knew I was the only one who noticed it.

"Morning to you all," I said finally. Neutrality was all my voice contained.

"Good morning, Shani-kun!" exclaimed a very hyper and pleasant Uchiha Umi. She wasKuroto's younger twin sister. UnlikeKagari, Umi was not a fraternal twin.Umi had half raven, half pink hair that grew to her rear end. I wouldn't have said it like that but that was the truth. If she was any older, it would be sexy.Like Sakura, she had green emerald like eyes and she was also very cute. She was an inch shorter than I was but that wasn't all out important, since it was just physical attributes. Overall, not only was Uchiha Umi a beautiful girl, I could tell that she held a very good heart and conscience.

She then came up to me and gave me a big sister like hug. I didn't mind that at all for I knew her ever since I was a baby. At least that was what Father and Mother told me. As I hugged her back, the rest of the gang gave their annoying awwws and irritating insincere flattery.I soon silenced them allwhen I gave a bored glare. Even so, there was one voice that I didn't hear.

"Hello… Shani-chan…" There, I heard it now.Was sheas shy as ever. When I eyed that girl with my visible lavender eye, she quickly hid behind Kuroto or anyone else who would be nearby and blushed. No doubt she tried to be small and invisible but much to her distress, I intentionally watched her. Shethen gaveme a very timid (but cute) smile before turning her head slightly to look elsewhere. How could anyone blush so much, I wonder, how could she manipulate her blood in such an amazing fashion?

Who was she? Her name was Hyuga Yamase, my second cousin (When I said second, our blood relations are far). She was Hyuga Neji, my uncle, whose blood was a lot more distant than my mother, and Hyuga Katase Tenten's only daughter.

Yamase was also one of the cutest girls I have met. She was short (not like it was important though, I liked her height), her hair was black with a tint of usual blue colour that most Hyugas had, and the length of it was around to her back. Also, her skin was less pale than her father but more light than her mother, and she carried the lavender eyes like me. She was so shy -especially around me. I knew her ever since I was an infant, and I treated her like any good relative would. In other words, I treated her with the same affection as I would treat Kagari.

There was a problem with our relationship though. Whenever Italked to her, she would smile with a thick shade of pink on her face before she declared farewell. After that, she would run away shyly but I knew she was happy. Despite that I was glad that she was delighted, I could've sure used a response. I discussed this with Kagari afterwards and I urged her to talk with Yamase to see if she had the ability to make a conversation. What confused me to no end was that Yamase was chatting comfortably with Kagari. What made her so frail with me? Was I the problem?Maybe because I was a boy and she was a girl, that was the only logical explanation my mind could assume on.

Who knew what the reason was! But as long as she was my good friend I was satisfied without question.

"Good morning, Yamase-chan," I said, thus, thickening her blush. I grinned amusedly as of result but I sensed Umi looked at me with a hint of envy. What was that all about? Then I realized that Umi frequently sent me that glare whenever I talked to Yamase, and I kept reassuring her thatYamase was my only cousin and I should talk to her so our relationship wouldn'tgo further apart. Umi would reluctantly agree but I wondered why she had such pure hesitancy. I could've thought about it butI quickly forgotten it when I noticed someone wason top of the branch.

This girl was napping, somewhat actually… In reality, she wasn't but she seemed so lazy that we all thought she was dead. I would say that she did a good impression of a poorly made statue, a monument, a drifting spaceship (whatever that was), a corpse, a rock or anything that stayed still but I knew she would hit me pretty hard if I said it audibly. Believe it or not, I once spilled out my thoughts and the outcome was that she didn't talk to me for a week until I needed to hug her, and maybe sweet talk her to forgive me. Tsubasa loved affection from her close ones, and it was pretty clear that she forgave me in less than an instant. My disgracefulness had no limits that time, and I was feeling sick just recalling that wretched memory.

When she saw me looking up to her, she stuck out a tongue at me before giving me a smile of her own. Umi held onto me tighter before yelling at Tsubasa, the girl on top, for the two of them seemed to be rivals of something. Actually, I lied. The word something would be a lie, since it should be swapped with the word 'everything'. Kagari and I certainly did not know what it was, nor did it matter, I didn't want to get involved, that was for certain.

Although Tsubasa looked exactly like her beautiful mother Nara Yamanaka Ino, her attitude matched her father, Nara Shikamaru, like a perfect precedent. She was lazy, or rather very lazy. However, she could be very emotional when she got attached into something such as she truly believed that boys were troublesome people, but she really liked them. She liked Kuroto especially for he was quite good looking. Was I good looking? I really could've lived without knowing that fact, all I would say was that I was decent.

"What were you guys talking about earlier?" asked Asuran to the gang.

"Nothing much," said Kuroto. "You do remember what day it is next week, right, Asuran?"

"No, not really,"

"It's Yamase's birthday, you clutz!" shouted Tsubasa from above, which earned a glare from Umi.

"Don't talk to my cousin like that, Tsu-chan!" yelled the half-raven, half-pink hair girl angrily. The blond Nara girl faked a yawn before turning away, therefore, making Umi steam up with rage. Although I usually regarded their rivalry with exasperation, this time I found it just so amusing. What caused my usual attitude to be slide? When did silliness become manditory?But I discarded that fact and walked to Yamase, which caused her to flush up even more -not like she wasn't already as red as a strawberry.

"Hey," I said in a clear voice, or rather in a voice that was as friendly as I could muster.To be honest,I had cut back on talking to her sinceI felt like I was talking to myself thanto a girl each time. My motivation for this action was more or less due to guilt."I'm sorry that I forgot that your birthday is coming up soon, Yamase-chan."

"It's okay… Shani-chan…" she replied timidly and poking her fingers together. "Really…"

"What do you want for your birthday?"

"I don't want to waste your… money… you don't have to buy me a present…"

"Oh, don't be silly," I said. "You're my favourite relative, why wouldn't I buy a gift for you? Kagari-chan and I wouldn't mind."

"I'm your only relative... Shani-chan..."

She sure got me there good. I must've been losing my touch. Also, I wished that she would stop calling me with a chan. I thought having Mother naming me like that was bad enough. Now, I got this little adorable girl following Mother's ways, and more so I couldn't simply order Yamase not to be so kind.

"Whatever, whatever," I said, shaking my previous troublesome thoughts away. "I want you to have a good birthday, okay?"

"Thank you then… Shani-chan…" When she finished her sentence, the school bells rung loudly to tell all students that class was about to begin in a several minutes. I cursed noticeably before the group went ahead of me to get inside.

Worse of all, some of my friends nearly trampled me, but Yamase was still here watching me straightening myself back.

A groan escaped my mouth knowing another day of boredom awaited me. As I followed suit in my cold, dark, and stoic face, Yamase timidly walked behind me. Seeing that she was so slow, as if she was stalking me, I quickly went back and held her hand. I didn't notice this but she blushed so furiously that she wanted to faint. After I took her hand in mine, I rushed in to the classroom as soon as I could so the two of us wouldn't be late.

As much as I knew, Iruka could scold me for over an hour for being a little unpunctual despite another person might be late for over half an hour. That man did have something against me, I was no idiot.

**_(During the time in the day)_**

Things couldn't get any more boring than this, I thought most dully, and I would be sticking with this statement with no regrets.

Up front was the chuunin Iruka (also known as our instructor) trying to do a good jobat teaching a class. Due to his experience, he was an effective teacher. But to me, he was boring. It's not like the fact that I disliked him (because I hated him) but the truth was the classes here were utterly pointless. In fact, I didn't know if the education system was messed up or was it just the teacher. I just didn't understand how Kagari could stand this crap, it wasn't like that she didn't know this stuff for crying out loud. I was deadly bored to the core, and I refuse to allow my time to be wasted by some nobody.

I took out the MP3 I received for my birthday from some anonymous person last year, but every time I took it out when Yamase was around she would immediately blush happily and her face always seemed to tell me that I should enjoy anything that this device played. Regardless, as I put the small headphones in my ears I was in my own world of fantasy not wanting to be disturbed. I was so soundless, and no one would even know what I was doing -not like they would waste their time bothering to find out anyway.

It was the same thing everyday. I would start listening to music or whatnot in class during this time, and I would ask Kagari for the stuff that I needed later. Most of them were extremely simple, thus, it wasn't much of a problem or a burden for her.I suppose that was fortunate to a degree. Nevertheless, it was undoubtedly pointless seeing myself going through all these troubles or why I needed to be here if Iruka hated me -not to mention I hated him as well.

He strongly believed thatI had an attitude problem towards life but I seriously didn't give a shit. He had no power to start lecturing me, especially not when I maintained a decent average. I made a deal with him, I said that if I ever started failing he could have every right in the world to make me sit down with him one-on-one and discuss my stoic personality. Up to this date, he believed that this uniqueness of mine was the source of all my decision makings, therefore, I knew he tried to look for any possible way to fail me directly or indirectly. He tried a lotyet he never caught me. If there was anything for me to admire in that man, it would be his relentless persistence. Then again, were his attempts worth it just to have a talk with a 7 year old boy?

Innormal circumstances,some people would consider Iruka trying to love the children he taught. Certainly you have heard such comments from parents to parents saying how good this certain individual was at To me, however, he was acting like a retard.

If that was how he wanted me to respect him, he had light years to go before reaching that perfection he desires so much.

Afternoon came by quickly today for I had a new set of music to listen to. Luckily I saved them last night or I would've been dealing with another period of torment. Laughter was the best medicine, not boredom. As soon as Iruka dismissed the class, I was more than happy to leave this rotten hellhole of death. My face may have remained the same cold expression but my mind certainly proved otherwise. In fact, my head felt like erupting from mental exhaustion.

If I didn't have proper self-control, someone would be killed by now.

"Shani," called Asuran as he ran to catch up with me. "When are you going to get to work today?"

"I would be here around four," I replied checking my watch. "I wouldn't want to miss today's work."

"Great, dude, I'll see you soon. Mom wants me to get back early so she could fix me up a surprise. Cool with you, Shani?"

"Fine, it is fine." I simply said as he took off. He sure looked like he was in a hurry. Itseemed I had some spare time to prepare before I started my work. In the end, I decided to head home to take a short break, sincethere was nothing better to do. Some quiet meditations would ease my stress and rage that I still had towards the time being wasted in that academy. If that place weren't a place where I could receive the genin title, I would've never taken any classes there after the first day. Moreover, if arson wasn't considered illegal I was quite confident that the academy would've ceased to exist.

"Oni-chan!" shouted a female voice loudly. As I turned around not showing any interest, Kagari immediately took me into a tight hug. She nuzzled into my chest adorably wanting me to hug her back. I did what she requested me to do thus she moaned peacefully like she was going to sleep. I didn't understand why Kagari liked me so much, she always wanted to be with me wherever I went, "Going home yet?" she asked kindly. At the same time, she tiptoed to kiss my cheek.

Did she have to do it in public?

"Yeah," I said quietly in her ear, "But I will be going to train later on. Hey, you should find something to do when I am gone, okay?" Training would be a lie but no one in the family knew that I had a job with Asuran. I wanted to save up money for a very special reason and no one, not even Asuran, knew about. He only thought I wanted some spare money, andwhich I did. I had to admit, five hundred yen per hour was much more than a seven year old boy like me to have. In addition,I worked for about fifteen or more hours each week.

"Can I train with you, oni-chan?" she asked me, obviously shewanted to come along.

"I would be meditating," I reasoned while speaking nothing but trickery. "You know that I prefer to be alone."

"I won't bug you," Kagari replied hopefully, I could tell she really wanted me to take her. "I promise."

"Sorry, Kagari-chan, you should look for Kuroto or Yamase and spend time with them instead,"

"But I want to be with you," She really admired me for a reason that I didn't fully know. The constant hand holding and rubbing was clearly a sign that I couldn't ignore.

"Come on, Kagari-chan, I'll walk you home and fix you a snack or two. Then I really have to go."

"Am I a bother to you? I really promise that I won't bug you."

"I know you won't, but oni-chan really needs to spend time by himself to get stronger. The next time that I train and need help on, I will look for you first, okay?"

"Oni-chan, you have been doing things at night very often these days," she said. "Where have you been going?"

"I happen to like being alone and meditate," I lied and it was partially true, I was an introvert.

"I don't want to be alone," she stated hugging me tighter. "I get bored and lonely."

"I'm sure Yamase-chan would love to play with you when I am gone, then you won't be lonely."

"But I want oni-chan here, too… please stay with me."

"I am really busy today," I saidfirmly with a hint of empathy for my sister. I knew Kagari was mature enough to understand what I was trying to say but she was a little girl nonetheless, andof course there were traits within her that made her act that way. "Next time, okay, Kagari-chan?"

"Promise?"

"I promise." It was then when I saw Yamase walking shyly towards the Hyuga mansion after bidding a goodbye to Kuroto and Umi. It was very fortunate for me indeed. Yamase couldn't have shown up at a better time. "Hey, Yamase-chan," I called out, and my voice seemed to make her stiffen immediately. I had no intention whatsoever tomake her feel uncomfortable.She turned around with a thick blush knowing it was me that called her. She immediately played with her fingers as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Yes, Shani-chan?" asked the little Hyuga girl blushing badly with a smile. "Is something… wrong?"

"Can you do me a favour?" I said very softly. I didn't know why I talked like that all of a sudden. I was usually very stoic and dark, and I only spoke to Kagari and Asuran in my more humane voice. Maybe it was because Yamase was my cousin and I considered her like my close sister. Yeah, that must be it. "I'm sorry..."

"Anything, Shani-chan…"

"Could you keep Kagari-chan company until dinner this afternoon?"

"How come?" asked Yamase innocently with her smooth diction.

"I need to go out today… and Kagari just wants someone to be with her. If you are busy, I would understand, that will be okay too. You aren't obligated to do-"

"I'll do it!" she said in a loud voice cutting me off. She then flushed knowing that she projected her volume too much, I was surprised that she was able to make such an outburst, I never heard her so clamorous before. When I took a glimpse at my sister, who was still hugging me, she seemed shocked too. "I mean…" It was back to her stuttering again. "I am more than willing… to help you, Shani-chan…"

"I'm very sorry for troubling you, Yamase-chan," said I in a shamed tone. "I would return the favour some time. You can suggest anything... and I will do everything within my ability to grant your needs."

"You don't have too… it's really okay…" _Even though I want you to give me something… I don't think that I can ask you…_

"You're very sweet, Yamase-chan," I then leaned down a bit to kiss her cheek. Since she was my cousin, it wasn't such a big deal to me. However, the Hyuga girl blushed as if she had seen the heaven's light. I didn't know how it happened, her face seemed so content, relaxed, and talk about joyous! It was similar to that her longed prayers were answered and the grace was overwhelming. Yamase did what seemed natural for her at the moment, she fell forward and fainted. Releasing Kagari out of our embrace, I caught my timid relative before her face had a date with the solid ground. "Yamase, Yamase, you okay?" A smile was still crept on her cute visage but both Kagari and I knew she was unconscious.

"What just happened, Shani?" my sister questioned me without calling me oni-chan. Whenever that happened, I knew she was being quite serious.

"How would I know?" I retorted without turning around.

"I think she needs to rest…" said Kagari somewhat worried. "What should we do?"

"Let's take her home…" I suggested in a dreary voice, someone had to carry her and it would be me for obvious reasons. As Tsubasa would say, this was just troublesome, "I will call Uncle Neji when we get back, Kagari." Giving me a nod of agreement, the two of us went back to our home with Yamase now on my back.

This was certainly unexpected.

**_(At home, a little later)_**

Ona weekday afternoon both Kagari and I knew our parents would not be home yet. Father would be the only exception if he didn't have a mission, andwhich was very rare of course since he was a much respected ninja with a level even higher than jounin but not so Hokage. Mother was a high class shinobi who had potential to be a captain in a jounin squad. What made her exceptional was that she was also a skilled medic, therefore, a lot of shinobis valued her.

As I placed Yamase carefully on the living room couch, I quickly poured boiling water in the instant ramen that Kagari loved, and finally looked for the phone number that connected to the Hyuga mansion. After a minute of searching -luckily our entire family was organised- I dialled quickly hoping that someone would pick up. I was quite the impatient person when it came to a phone.

"Hello, Hyuga residence," said a young female voice from the other line.

"May I speak to the parents of Hyuga Yamase, please?" I asked in a less stoic tone.

"This is her mother speaking," she said. "May I know who is calling?" I was glad that Aunt Tenten had a day off today.

"Aunt Tenten, I'm so glad that it's you. It's me, Shani."

"Shani?" said my aunt with surprise. "My, I didn't even recognize that it was you. My, you are growing up so quickly, you are a big boy now to use the phone." I smiled at her kind words but this wasn't the time to be talking about me being a big boy, sinceYamase was still unconscious for goodness sakes. "But Shani, why did you need to look for me? Did something happen to Yamase?"

"Yeah, actually… something did…" I spoke with guilt very evidently.

"What happened then?" asked Aunt Tenten in a very concerned voice now.

There was no point to be reluctant. "She fainted…"

"How did that happen, Shani?" she questioned me, but I noticed that she wasn't angry with me luckily.

"I thanked her for willing to help me accompany Kagari while I train this afternoon," I justified hoping that it was good enough. "So I kissed her on the cheek and she somehow fainted…"

"Is that all?" she urged on but to me, she seemed to be giggling. Concern was definitely not there anymore.I wondered what happened to make auntie want to laugh.

"That was all."

"Don't worry about it, Shani," she said with reassurance. "Yamase would be fine, I am sure she will wake up in no time. Just don't blame yourself, okay?"

"Are you sure though, Aunt Tenten?"

"I am positive. Yamase is just a little shy, you know that. Maybe you just shocked her a bit too much."

"Maybe…" I replied with doubt. ButI chose to trust my knowledgeable aunt's judgment in the end. "I just won't kiss her as a token of appreciation anymore then…"

"Don't do that, Shani," she told me with a smile that I didn't see. "I am sure Yamase really likes your kisses. She's just too timid and shy to tell you that." Yamase liked my kisses? I wonder what she meant by that. "Just don't blame yourself for this, it will be fine."

"If you say so…"

"You coming to her birthday party next week, Shani?" she asked me sweetly like an adult would. "You do know Yamase really wants you to go."She was speaking the obvious. Therewas no way that my littlecousin wouldn't invite me over for this when she always wantedKagari and I to visit her more often."Did you receive her invitation letter yet?"

"Actually no, I haven't."

"She spent so much time last night trying to make yours the prettiest of all so you would think that her birthday party would be as colourful and beautiful as the card said it would be. She didn't sleep until she thought it was perfect."

"Did she?" I asked clearly surprised and touched in a way. "She shouldn't have, Aunt Tenten."

"I know, but she insisted."

"Why though?" I clearly didn't understand why Yamase would go through all that trouble for me.Even ifI was very sharp in life like my father was I just couldn't grasp the big picture. From behind the phone, Aunt Tenten giggled in a manner that I never heard before. It sounded like as if she found this situation very amusing as where I was the person that caused all this entertainment to start. I was disgusted at myself for being such a clueless fool.

"I'm sure that you would understand as you get a little older, Shani."aunt Tenten told me like she knew mythoughts.Her words almost convinced me that she was a psychic. But when I thought about it calmly, I was sure it was due to my aunt's personal experiences in life that caused her to assume things so accurately. "Anyway, tell Yamase that she should get back home before 7:30 tonight. I don't want her to stay too long, okay?"

"Fine..." My voice was depleted with humanness.

"I'll talk to you some other time, Shani. It was good to hear your voice."

"Likewise, Aunt Tenten,"

"Goodbye." With that, my aunt hung up, thus, ending the conversation. As I placed the receiver down, I turned around to see Kagari already at the table chewing on her precious ramen. She gave me a warm smile wanting me to eat with her. I gently shook my head in refusal and told my baby sister about the instructions our aunt told us through the phone with as least words as possible. Kagari promptly nodded and conveniently it was about time for me to leave the house.

Of course, being Kagari, she gave me a big kiss on the lips without any shame.

Hopefully Yamase would get up soon, I thought. As I checked on her one last time before I left, a smile continued to be on her small face. I wondered what Yamase was dreaming about, the faint blush she carried so suited her and it radiated any cuteness that she held, which was a lot. I silently thanked her for the invitation she wanted to give me, although I haven't seen it yet, I was certain that it would be very pretty. Giving her a kiss on the forehead, I then exited the house to get to Asuran's place.

_**(Time passed)**_

I really thought my walk to Asuran's place would be easy today, but things certainly proved otherwise when I found Umi cornered by a several older kids. They were around three years older than her but they were intimidating people for their size totaled the poor girl. I knew they were picking on her, and it was no surprise that Umi was very frightened. When was curling up into a ball while shaking and trembling a sign of safety? If I knew Umi, I knew she was extremely fragile when it came to intimidation.

I didn't understand why my mind grew angry, but it just irritated me to no end how low some people's morals were. How low could they sink? As I approached them, while Umi slapped their hand away to avoid from touching her, she saw me in the corner of her eye. A sense of happiness came upon her face as she ran towards me -thinking that I was her lifesaver. I was oneto a certain extent but I wouldn't allow my pride to feel that way. Besides, I never liked playing the hero although it must be done.She hugged me immediately in tears, andI pitied her to have faced such bullies.

No doubt those three people came forward with both an unsatisfied and cocky face.

"Who do we have here?" asked one of the bullies. He was clearly the leader in my eyes.

"Another little punk for us to play with…" I narrowed my eyes to give off an annoyed glare, with only one eye revealed to the light. They recoiled a little, which was a wise thing to do but even wiser if they chose to back off now.However -being idiots- theydecided to stick by until they got what they wanted. Seeing those dark grins on their faces, Umi quickly went behind me timidly with fear. The poor Uchiha girl held onto my jacket as if her life depended on it, and I wasn't someone who wouldn't provide her with the comfort.

"What do you want with her?" I questioned with an incredible coldness.

"Nothing much," answered the last person who didn't speak to me until now.

"It's none of your business, kid," stated the leader wanting to shove me aside to access to Umi but I wouldn't allow it. I played safe at first by grabbing his wrist before shoving him back. That alone infuriated them to a degree that was beyond my first expectations."A tough guy, huh?"

"Leave her alone," I ordered with dead seriousness in my voice. "She didn't do anything to you."

"You better leave now or we will hurt you, little boy." The other two then took out a kunai from their weapon holsters, I could tell they must've been academy students at a higher level, sincewe didn't receive such weapons yet other than during training. What a bunch of abusers; they were misusing a weapon when it was only meant to be use when needed. I couldn't abandon Umi at a time like this, she was my good friend and these fateless cowards (which was something that my father frequently used on a lot of people living in this town) deserved some discipline -and possibly the gift of meeting death.

"You think you can hurt me?" I questioned them bitterly and darkly with a dangerous glint in my lavender eye. "Amuse me, idiots." It was then when I held my scythe ready to engage in combat, these three fools fascinated me to the top of my bent. "Umi… stay close to me, okay?" She only nodded in my back half affectionately and warmly. I couldn't blame her though despite I was not someone who could stand such emotions.

"Attack him!" shouted the commander of the three as they took on charge with their kunais ready to stab me. Giving off a snicker, I pulled my scythe back and performed a heavy horizontal slash. All three of them winced knowing that I did something but clearly didn't realize what I precisely did. When they opened their eyes, the kunais they held were cut apart cleanly making it completely useless as of result.

"Wow…" I heard Umi say in admiration. I grinned knowing that those three people were incredibly ticked. Why wouldn't they, a seven year old was showing more potential than them. Like I said, these three amuse me to the top of my bent.

"Jerk!" screamed the second boy as he ran to me wanting to pound me. Snickering at the clumsiness his running was, my left hand easily turned into a fist and he ran right into it. A dry cough escaped that fool's mouth before curling into a ball in pain, oh, what joy. It wasn't long before the other two angrily took a sprint attempting to hit me. I could've cared less but I knew Umi was behind me, I didn't have a choice but to react. Generating the blade of my scythe with fluorescent green chakra, I immediately dashed right at them with a deadly glide. As they both halted seeing my movement, this was a perfect opportunity for me to strike.

Leveling my weapon above my head with chakra that can cause pain but not kill them, I had no intention to kill them since Umi was around. If it was any other scenario with me alone, these three would not see daylights again. I soon forcefully slashed the third boy in the left shoulder and downward making him cry with much agony, which was similar to music in my dark mind. He somehow was able to react after my attack, which surprised me slightly but I had to give him credit for persistence, the bully childishly attempted to kick my shins. Persistant idiot was a good definition for this boy, I quickly blocked it with my bladed part of my scythe, which caused him to gasp and recoil for my agility outmatched his. I had enough of this. Using upward force, I heavily gave an upward diagonal slash at his chest.

If I did not generate chakra into the scythe, I would've easily sliced him in half.

As soon as he fell to the floor, I turned my head towards the last one standing giving a dark stare with my right eye before I charged at him with my weapon preparing to pursuit. He was scared that I dealt with his friends as if they were nothing, I sensed the fear he had, my eyes never deceived me. Giving out a creepy yet silent battle cry, I raised my weapon andswung it strongly at his left arm, and made a vicious swipe thus sending him crashing to a wall on his back. Snickering darkly, I stretched out my left arm with chakra ready to unleash on them, although I didn't want to hurt them any further, my mind continued to tempt me. As the other two tried to help their leader back on his feet, an unknown urge trifled with me, it wanted me to fire, I wanted to see blood, and these three were just too perfect.

Without knowing, my eyes began to engage the Byakugan, I had them locked in target.

"Shani-kun," called a voice suddenly disrupting my thoughts. Once I remembered Umi was behind me still, I quickly deactivated my eyes and turned to face her slightly. My right eye still eyed the three fools, who hustled towards the opposite direction with muchfright evident on their faces.When I finally knew that they were gone, I turned to see a blushing Umi with her hands behind her back as if she was very grateful. I simply smiled at her and stopped the chakra from gathering to my weapon, andI was pretty sure that her shade of redthickened as well.

"You okay, Umi?" I asked in a calm and yet emotionless voice.

"I'm okay…" said the Uchiha girl to me in a very sweet tone, pleasant even. "I'm okay now because you saved me…"

"I just couldn't let those guys bully you,"

"Thank you," she said as she hugged me like how Kagari would. However, somehow it felt really different, I never experienced such sensation when Father or Mother hugged me. In addition, my cheeks burned when I felt Umi's lips kissed my cheek. Why was I blushing? Me, Uzumaki Shani never blushed like that before… aside from when Kagari would innocently embrace me in public -or even plant kisses without any shame. "Thank you for saving me, Shani-kun," she continued to purr relaxingly with relief while wanting me to hold her back.

"It was nothing," I said trying not to stutter on my words. We soon pulled away but a shade of pink still remained, I wondered why she would be blushing this much? Being a seven year old boy, I just didn't understand. I wanted to know more.

"You were so cool, Shani-kun…"

"No… it was nothing…" I brushed it off politely. She giggled at my humbleness.

"Where are you going now, Shani-kun?" she asked me kindly.

"I'm going to train," I replied turning around for I was nearly late for work. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay, Umi?"

"Can I come with you, Shani-kun? I need to get stronger too…"

"Some other time, I am really busy today."

"Do you have to go?" she questioned with her puppy eyes.

"Yeah," I said as I gave her a poke on the forehead, which was something I frequently did. She flushed and giggled every time I did that, it made me smile a notch. "I'm sorry…" I stated when I saw her smile into a disappointing frown. I knew she wanted to stay by me.

"It's okay…" At that moment, her face changed drastically into an understanding one. "If you're really busy, I won't bother you then. I will see you tomorrow, Shani-kun!"

"Yeah," I replied quietly as I watched her retreating form.

"Thank you for saving me again!" I grinned slightly when I waved back, I remained until my eye could no longer see her. At that point, I headed to the designated place that awaited me, Ichikaru Ramen. I just hope that I wasn't too late, punctuality was something Father told me to maintain for one of his old senseis was never on time. I forgot his name though. Then again, I heard from Mother that he was a very skilled pervert. Why would anyone want to be known as someone such as that? It confused me to no end undoubtedly.

Speaking of perverts, I truly wished that my future sensei was not someone in that category. Father told me not too long ago that his mind struggled a lot to maintain clean when he had two sick role models to follow. Mother said that influence was a powerful tool for I could spread it or be affected by it. That was why she told me to make the correct friends, which I acted upon well for Asuran was my best friend without regrets.

Sometimes I wondered how my mom loved my dad, yet when I ask them, they would tell me (or to the least Mother) that I would know when I got a bit older. Anyhow, I had a general idea for I do notice how loving Mother was to the entire family while Father rarely expressed his care directly. Despite that, I knew he loved us more than anything this world could offer, I was the son of the woman he loved deeply and Kagari was his daughter. Father's dark attributes certainly rubbed off on me well, I was following in his footsteps perfectly… while Kagari had features of Aunt Sakura, Auntie Rin and Mother. She was a cheerful spirit with harmonious desires and one with pure gentle wisdom.

_**(After work that late evening around 8:30PM)**_

Work today was smooth, as I would say, for everything seemed to work out perfectly. Customers were satisfied with the meals they had; no big messes were made; I got my extra one hundred yen raise; and it was my payday. Asuran and I got along just fine and I was very certain that our friendship bond grew stronger.

Today was quite the day.

Remembering that Yamase had a party that she wanted Kagari and I to go, it only made me want to buy her a gift. It wasn't like we ever went empty handed but it was my parents who were always the ones that brought her the gift. Of course, my mother would tell Uncle Neji and Aunt Tenten that the present was from the whole family but the adults obviously knew better. The same went for Yamase's parents, but Uncle Neji didn't do it as skillful as Aunt Tenten. Less subtle, and kind of suspiciious. This year, it would be different since I wanted to give Yamase something special for being a good, loving cousin. Also, I wanted to be my own little secret.

Imade up my mindthat I would start searching for it tomorrow. Hopefully, Mother and Father would not find my actions too weird.

I gave a small yawn as I unlocked the front door to enter. I was quite tired for a good cause. Once I raised my head to see who was within my sight range, I found Father reading again but I knew some ofhis attention towards the book was lost when he sensed me entering. When I closed the door and locking it, Father completely lowered thereading materialand told me to come over.

Was I scared to confront him? Not really, Father rarely scolded me for I infrequently did things beyond my reach, I was obedient and in addition, my parents were very reasonable people.

"Shani," called Father as he waved me to sit on his lap or something in similarity. Of course, I refused such treatment and decided to stand a foot away from him and listened attentively. "Can you do me a big favour?"

"You want me to be the guinea pig to try out kaa-san's food?" I asked, narrowing my eye. Father chuckled hearing my response and ruffled my hair a little.

"Not that." he toldme with a considerate tone. Then his blue eyes opened up a little more, as if he caught some sort of hidden message within my short answer."Hey, you don't like mom's food?"

"I was kidding, otousan," I replied giving a grin but not a very content one. Father was indeed sharp.

"I know you were."

"So, what do you need me to help you with?" I almost sounded like I was complaining.

"Can you go and take a look at your sister?" I only blinked a several times insignificantly while hearing it. I didn't know why Kagari would be doing.

"Is something wrong?"

"She wants someone to play with, Shani," explained my silver haired father. "You mom tried to cheer her up, and it did for a while, but Kagari said it isn't the same without you."

"So I see…" I was a person with a few words. Meanwhile, I strongly thought that my sister loved me thoroughly.

"You hungry, Shani? It is quite late."

"It's fine. I would rather see what's bothering her. Food can wait." Father smiled at my answer, and the maturity that I put in. I always knew my Father was very proud of me in every possible way in no matter what I did in life. Not only was I the older one in the family, I was a good role model for Kagari and both Mother and Father had much faith in me. I was not a disappointment and I earned my freedom. This new freedom soon gained me financial stability as of result (Not that they knew I had my own source of income).

I had to admit my life was heading in the correct direction -unless some drastic shit erupted.

Despite my stability or correct decision making, I sensed that Mother was the only one most worried about me for she would often see if I was okay and other things related to that. To me, she was just being a caring mom, but Father told her to trust me a bit more. Nowadays, she was better but I was only seven, andI had to expect them to give me only such a level of independence whether it was great or little. I had to respect their choice unless it was unreasonable.

"I'll get going, okay?" Not even bothering to hear a reply for I knew my dad nodded, I headed straight to Kagari's room.

Before I made it there my Mother walked past me, and she gave me a sweet kiss and a hug before walking to my father with a cup of tea. The pleasant aura she held made me smile a bit. However, there was a smile on her face that she carried -whichpuzzled me for a second.

If itliterally made me stop to think about it, then it must've really caught my attention.

She never showed me before other than my father. In my opinion, I think it was kind of a seductive smile. As she approached my father with it, and gave him kisses on the cheek and ear, it made me somewhat curious. Soon enough, Father would give her his own charming smile, and in no time the two of them would head down to the spacious basement we had, andwhere their bedroom was. We only had two floors, the basement and the main floor as where Kagari's room, my room and the spare room were located in this building.

I was young but I wasn't ignorant, I knew what they were doing. What would a husband and wife do alone without their kids knowing? Make love of course. I didn't mind for a second for it was their way of showing love for another in the greatest length possible. How did I have knowledge on this? Simple, I read a lot of books that Father owned, especially the Life and Death Paradise volumes that he treasured. Noticing that I would rather not absorb into any more detail in the pleasures of lovemaking, I headed to my sister's room.

"Who is it?" Kagari's voice came from behind the door as I knocked.

"It's me," I declared in my usual apathetic voice. Knowing it was me, I heard her wailed delightedly -or possibly even give a jump of joy-before telling me to come in. Shrugging a bit, I turned the doorknob and entered her bright room where asmine was nearly the exact opposite with dim radiance. The brightest light I had in my room was the desk light and I found it a little too much for my taste. "Hey, Kagari…"

"Oni-chan!" she exclaimed as she tackled mebefore I ended up on the floor with her on top of me. "You're back, you're back!" She then gave me a kiss and embraced me warmly. Actually, I lied. Rather, she was all over me and kissing me everywhere. "Did you train hard today, oni-chan? You seem tired."

"I am… a little…" I said coughing since my body hadn't recovered from the sudden impact. More importantly, my head was twirling in a dragon's rage of affection, in which was too difficult for me to handle. "Don't need to worry about me, Kagari-chan,"

"You smell like ramen," she said, giving an adorable giggle. "Why do you smell like that?"

"I had ramen for dinner…"

"Why do you have almost all the different kinds?" How could she identify them, how was she that skilled? The real question was, when did she get that talented in identifying ramen? To me, it was kind of a waste.

"Because the restaurant served all kinds of ramen,"

"But it's too strong though," she continued with sharp analysis. I wanted to flinch at that instant."As a customer to have such a thick sense of odour on you is unnatural, you know."

"I should go change, shouldn'tI?" I offered her that option, and I was quite eager to get up as well.

"No, you don't have to. Just because you smell like ramen doesn't mean that you don't smell good. I love ramen." My baby sister then nuzzled her face into my chest trying to absorb all of it. Even for someone who experienced her touches, hugs, kisses or whatnot, this seemed a little unusual. I knew Kagari was keen, but not this good. "Why is the scent so strong though? Tell me."

"You know Asuran works there," I said obviously half lying. "He invited me to enter the kitchen and had a good chat during dinner." I saw a blush crept on her face as I mentioned his name but I decided to keep silent.

"Asuran…" I heard her mumble dreamily.

"Hey, you can go down there sometimes too since you like ramen so much," I said with her still on top of me and my back in contact with the carpet. "I am sure Asuran wouldn't mind." I wanted to laugh when I saw her tint of pink turned deeper, but I didn't want my sister to think that I was teasing her. I knew that she liked him a lot, for what reason… I didn't know but I was certain that she didn't like him for looks since I knew Kagari was never a superficial girl. I really questioned if Asuran knew that… maybe he just didn't get it yet.

"I don't think I should be a bother…" she said timidly.

"Asuran would like to see people his age there," I commented. "He does get bored once in a while. Come on, you can help cheer him up sometimes. Perhaps you can even learn how to cook ramen."

"You can go there for me…" A hue of fuchsia appeared again and she looked away with a timid smile. I couldn't deny that my baby sister just looked so adorable, not that I would admit it out loud though.

"What's the use of me learning how to make ramen for you?"

"Oni-chan?" she changed the subject without me knowing.

"Yes?"

"I missed you."

"I was only gone for a several hours," I said.

"But few hours is a few hours that Kagari can't be with you," she commented in third person, I tried hard not to react at her innocence. "I was bored."

"What about Yamase-chan?" Wasn't she with you?"

"She was here but she left later on… I was really bored when it was only me with kaa-chan and otousan."

"Did Yamase-chan leave you anything?" I asked knowing that she had an invitation card for me. Hearing my question, my sister promptly got off my chest and took two cards that was on her desk and returned with them. She handed the one that had my name on it, which was very well drawn, and I opened to see if what Aunt Tenten said was true earlier. As I read it, I was stunned at the amount of work that was put into it, I felt guilty that she actually did this for me. Amazing, that was the only word that I could use to describe it. Natural talents in art were obviously presented in this card alone, it was too good for me to accept and it was only an invitation card.

The words on it were simple: _To Shani-chan, please come to my birthday party, I would like to see you there. Hope you have fun…_

Although she didn't put an exclamation mark on the last sentence, somehow I pictured her blushing while she made it. I didn't know why I had that thought in my mind, I easily smiled with gratefulness that Yamase did this with such passion, she was such a kind cousin to me.

"Oni-chan…" Kagari moaned pleasantly as she attached herself to me again.

"What is it?" I asked her gently holding her with care that I showed no one else at this point.

"Can you read me a story? I like stories." It was then my lips formed the usual smirk.

"I know a lot of stories," I said with more energy since I recalled many children book titles that should never be published. "I know 'Karin has been so bad that her mom stopped loving her', 'Dad's new wife Robert', 'Mr. Anbu eats his Service Katana', 'Why can't Mr. Fork and Ms. Electrical Circuit be Friends?', 'Fun Four Letter Words to Know and Share', 'Kids guide to Hitchhiking', 'Playground Supremacy: Respect through Fear', which one do you want to hear?" It was then when I noticed Kagari was sniffing with teary eyes, she didn't seem to like them.

"Not funny, oni-chan…" she said giving a small snivel.

"Sorry, Kagari-chan," I said chuckling quietly while holding her closer. "I was just teasing you."

"I don't want to listen to stories anymore… can we play?" I soon gave a nod and she happily jumped off me with her previous sadness forgotten.

After playing with Kagari for half an hour to an hour, I went back to my room and finally turned on the room lights to search for a small box that I kept my own special belongings. I wouldn't throw away such a well thought out card since she did spend a lot of time on it after all. Furthermore, I was not someone to discard such a fact.

Putting the blue box and dimming the lights back to the normal radiance, I picked up the clothes I needed and headed for the washroom to take a bath. Sometimes, I envied Kagari for having her own bathroom that connected to her room while I, on the other hand, did not. However, that was a silly reason to be envious of my sibling. After I took the shower, I would decide to do some meditation or whatnot before I relax myself enough to go to bed, this became a routine for me. The only thing I prayed for was hoping tomorrow would be more meaningful, there was just so much for a boy at the age of seven to learn.

Smirking my usual dark smirk while I was on the couch later, I put the small headphones into my ears, and the music began to infiltrate my mind. Who knew how long my mind roamed in the vast emptiness of my own subconscious, the next moment that I returned to reality it was already two hours later. With an empty and possibly even lifeless stare, I walked back drearily into my room not wanting to make a sound to disturb the others. As I slipped into the covers, my eye unceasingly watched the darkness that surrounded this room. Somehow, it just fascinated me.

Not knowing when my eyes fully closed, I was already deep asleep…

**_AN: So, how do you guys like the first chapter of this? Like it, not like it? Nonetheless, please give me feedback for I really need your opinions to continue this knowing the Second Volume isn't done and this part could change at any time. I hope you all liked Shani and Kagari, along with Yamase and Asuran, they will most likely be the main characters of the story. Naruto, Hinata, and the rest of the gang will serve their importance later on but the main characters need to be more known before I continue. Hopefully I didn't mess up on the OCs that I made, if you are still awake at this point, I thank you. If you don't understand the story, please feel free to read the other 2 fictions that I wrote before this to achieve a better understanding and realization. Did I make Shani really mature for a seven year old? He isn't really much of a human, so I think that should be the exception. You can guess who his demon is too!_**

**_This time I around, I would strongly ask for a review for I really want your suggestions, this third part will survive or go through changes based on your opinions! I am sure that the pairing would come out sooner or later and if you think everything is always fine and all, have more faith in me and expect something big to happen. Very drastic indeed… This last part will be also long, like my other creations, so don't expect it to be short. Read and Review, thank you so much!_**

**_  
Once again, I will tell you about the relations of the OCs._**

**_Shani and Kagari are Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Hinata's children._**

**_Yamase is Hyuga Neji and Tenten's daughter._**

**_Kuroto and Umi are Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura's children._**

**_Asuran is Uchiha Itachi and Ayane's son._**

**_Tsubasa is Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino's daughter._**

_**Hikaru, who didn't show up yet, is Kamishiro Rin and Gaara's son. Does anyone know Gaara's last name?**_


	2. Questionable Ethics

_**Downfall of the Light 3**_

_Chapter 2: Questionable Ethics_

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I am just a fiction author who happens to like the characters. Don't get me wrong, I don't like where the story line is actually going. I think it's dragging too much intentionally.

Legend:

"…": Speech

'…': Thoughts or quotations within a sentence.

Scene changes are listed in bolded italic brackets.

_**AN: Okay, before my exams begin, I believe all of you would like to see another chapter before you need to enter the realms of exam period yourselves. To those who may not have exams or done with them, I congratulate you all on surviving or curse you for not having the need to experience it. Nonetheless, I hope you all will enjoy this post. The general idea that I have been receiving so far for the experimental chapter 1 is that you all like it and no changes are needed. Glad that you like it this much or I would be suffering more since I don't want to do any more work. **_

_**I thank all those who reviewed, it has been a while since I got over 40 reviews… once again, I thank you very much. Before I go on any further to the Answering Period, I will remind you all about the OCs and their relationship with the existing characters; so I won't have any confused readers. At the same time, I want some of the questions to be answered in this story and not by me. So, here goes.**_

_Uzumaki Shani_ and _Uzumaki Kagari_ are _Uzumaki Naruto_ and _Hyuga Hinata_'_s_ son and daughter.

_Uchiha Asuran_ is _Uchiha Itachi_ and _Ichikaru Ayame_'_s _only son.

_Hyuga Yamase_ is _Hyuga Neji_ and _Katase Tenten_'_s_ daughter.

_Uchiha Kuroto_ and _Uchiha Umi_ are _Uchiha Sasuke_ and _Haruno Sakura_'_s_ son and daughter.

_Kamishiro Hikaru_ is _Kamishiro Rin_ and _Gaara no Sabaku_'_s_ son.

_Nara Tsubasa_ is _Nara Shikamaru _and _Yamanaka Ino_'_s_ daughter.

_**One further note, as long as the chapters are first person point of views by the children, the interaction with the adults would be low. When the view is in third person, that would be different. However, this is not a third person chapter. The next one may be. To those who expect intimate romance this time, I will apologize since I was more on the thinking and inquiry this time.**_

_**Also, those who requested more info**_

_Question and Answering Period –where I will attempt to solve anything that you do not get in my story._

**_1Q: Will Shani and Kagari have any close relations with Kyubi?_**

1A: My answer to anyone who wanted to ask this… Who cares! Kyubi isn't a major character in my story and I won't even waste my time trying to emphasize anything that I don't need to explain. In addition, I find talking to Kyubi –especially fics that **_always_** have Naruto chatting with it- really kills the flow thus making it boring. If Kyubi needs to appear, she will. If not, what can you do?

**_2Q: Is Shani and Kagari too mature?_**

2A: I know Shani's words do contradict himself a little bit. Although this answer may be cheesy, let's just say he is aware of other things that are around him but he doesn't know some may be directed to him. For instance, he notices Kagari likes Asuran but he doesn't sense that Umi and Yamase like him. See what I am saying? I hope you do.

**_3Q: Did I sort of mess up the logic in the events such as the bullies picking on an Uchiha?_**

3A: To be honest, yes, I did. Why? I ran out of ideas. Come to think of it, I could've just made Umi wound her leg and Shani was there to help her. I suppose the event that took place was kind of cliché –which pisses me off to no end after noticing it- but as long as it works… I shouldn't complain that much.

_**4Q: Is there a limit where people in Konoha are legally able to make love?**_

4A: I am no politician and I was very surprised to see this question brought out. Although there are limits in this world, sadly enough we break them too often. Even if there is one, do any one of you seriously believe that Hinata would follow it if she is underage? I guess not, right?

**_5Q: Is Shani and the other 7 year old kids scary?_**

5A: More of an opinion question than a logic question. I will leave that to you to think. Personally, I think I made another monster.

**_6Q: Why did I start V3 this quickly when V2 wasn't at an extent that would be complete?_**

6A: I have been planning Shani and Kagari for quite a while now and I couldn't wait to get them into my story. Now, V2 is nearly complete and some of you can even say it's considered complete. Yet, there will be an epilogue to end all loose ends so none of you would feel the story is mostly done. When I have the time, I will deal with it. In addition, V3 was something to test my OC abilities in terms of if I did an okay job of their character, appearance, personality etc. Your reviews have helped me greatly. Thank you all!

_**To those who reviewed, I thank you:** Night-Owl 123, HinatasBiggestFanboy, Dragon Man 180, OAD, darkshaman817, D.D Designator, AkiaBinZaid, jasx316, Binnybobarino, Kamiu, nameless reviewer, anonymous, AlphaC, silver fox, Virgil, DaveBoo1378, somebody (OKAY, give me a made up name instead of somebody or anonymous because this is annoying), nonegel, sephynarutocloud, Chupii, Waited4SoLong, Lahmikhara, Drkjester, warprince2000, Max Knight, joekool, AnimeFan-Angel, dark-griffin, violently cheerful (finally, an account!), Aloi-san, Your-Bones-Akin, Jin Kazemaijin, kame-chan, Exiled Shinobi, Karatefumaster, Wings of Shadow, freak, mezzaluna and especially yuugiri!_

**_To those who like Gundam Seed and want to read the fictions, read yuugiri's fic 'The Insatiable Heart'. Believe me, it's got both quantity and quality! It really kicks butt. Now, without further adieu, let's start the next chapter. _**

**_(First Person POV)_**

Never would I have expected such melodious sound from my brother... My oni-chan had such a natural talent in music where as I had a beautiful voice like mother. Hisskills and excellence hadmuch effectiveness in getting me relaxed. I never expected he would have such interest in the flute. Maybe Iwas getting a little too ahead of myself bybelieving this much, I could be picturing successes and skills toa much more escalated levelthan I should be. Then again, oni-chan was always unpredictable.

When we were young, both oni-chan and I would prefer to have a bit of attention from our parents. Although Shani could, as he would say, live without it, I always wanted it.

Mother would spend more time with me where as Father would accompany Shani having their 'man to man' talk. Sooner or later, Father, with his flute, would emit glamorous music by simply blowing to it. Despite how he looked like he was only giving air into the golden instrument, Father did with such skill thus making his audience able to be drawn in emotionally to a high degree. Mother loved his playing and so did I. Knowing that oni-chan was fond of music -rather in a forced way due to personal experiences- I was certain that he might have appreciated it more than I ever would.

Shani believed I was the fortunate one, and he said that in my face fairly often. I wondered what he meant by that. In fact, I was quite envious of him to possess so much natural talent.

It wasn't too long after that these small events every night developed to be an interest for me. When Mother would sing every now and then, somehow my mouth along with my vocal cord would move on its own therefore joining my mother in her spectacular serenade. Mother knew when I sang along with her ever so gently, and sometimes she would simply stop so I would do it solo as a token of teasing. I am not a person who is a stage fright but hearing my own voice when someone else is present definitely feels weird. By that moment knowing I fell for my mother's trap, I would flush up and curl myself into a ball. She would soon giggle -Mother was a young adult friend figure to me since she was so young, she did not look like anyone older than twenty- and continued her song but not before telling me that my voice sounded great. Being me, I didn't know how to accept such a compliment. As of result, I would happily nod knowing Mother would never lie to me.

Was my voice as good as Mother said it was? There was only one way to find out, let oni-chan judge.

Although oni-chan loved me deeply as a brother would to a sister, he would not simply allow his time to be wasted by sitting somewhere while listening to a girl sing. I wasn't because that I was a girl that he would notlisten. It was more like he wouldn't care. However, that would be his answer if that were last year –before he had an interest in music. Nowadays, he would be more open to this kind of stuff since he liked it, too. I sang a song that both Shani and I knew from Mother, Hitomi no Kakera, to see how he liked it. I was nervous during the entire ordeal, and I seriously thought that I was doing a bad job.

To my surprise, he applauded at the end.

Of course, Shani never did anything enthusiastically -aside from meditation, training, fighting, insulting, and the rest- but having him actually doing something positive -such as cheering- was difficult. Up to this day, I was stunned that he actually clapped using his own two hands without having a sense of obligation for his actions.

"So…" I said timidly after I was done, "How was it? Was it bad?"

"Good," he told me in a humane voice thatI loved,"That was… very good. Wow…"

"Are you flattering me too much, oni-chan?" I questioned teasingly.

"I don't flatter people, Kagari-chan," he said seriously but keeping a grin nonetheless, "You are really good. With more practice you will be even better."

"Did my voice crack during the song?" I asked wanting to blush due to embarrassment.

"No, no such thing happened, okay?" he explained, "Have more confidence in yourself, Kagari-chan. I know you will be fine." What encouraging words a big brother –even though he was only six minutes older than I- could say to his baby sister. I was touched.I nodded with delight and embraced him in a tight hug not giving him an opportunity to refuse. Like always, Shani immediately stiffened as he felt life was being drained away from him. His groans only made me giggle harder into his chest.

Speaking of oni-chan, like I said before, he wouldn't have ever done this for me if it were a year ago. One incident that day gradually changed him from a deadpan to someone that showed more logical human characteristics. I wouldn't forget it, I simply couldn't.

* * *

It was that day a year ago like any other day where I woke up with a smile on my face; did my daily routines in my own personal bathroom; changed and went out to have a good first meal of the day. Once I saw my father and mother having a conversation - being a six year old at that time, I never considered if their conversation held any kind of significance or importance- my smile crept wider as I ran to them happily. 

"Otousan!" I called loudly that day with happiness as I leaped into my father's arms and hugging him closely. Father's look made my mother, who was beside him, giggle. Mother told me before that Father wasn't the most ideal person to show his care, and I knew that all the time. Although he was a sharp-tongue and very fluent with words, he was clueless when it came to affection and care. No doubt he could charm my mother to an extent that she would be willing to make love to him, but his children were another issue.

Iknew him for seven years and anyone could detect that he was a cold and silent man -very much like another member in this family. Nevertheless, Father loved us with everything he had and he always found hope in this home. Mother was gorgeous and kind hearted in every way, and like Father, she loved her family in the same manner. I got a feeling that this generation was something much deeper to Mother than I imagined; there was something that I just couldn't get a hold of.

"What is it, Kagari?" asked Father gently as he cradled me slightly.

"Don't jump on your father without him knowing, okay, Kagari-chan?" Mother told me in a small lecture as she used her finger to poke my soft cheek, andwhich made me blush in the end. "It can be dangerous since daddy can fall."

"Don't worry about it, Hinata," assured Father, grinning as he held onto me firmer so I wouldn't drop to the floor, "I am not that careless."

"But you know it can be dangerous for an exuberant little girl to tackle you," justified Motherwhile she kissed Father on the cheek before turning to me with the same smile. "Kagari-chan is so full of energy, aren't you?" I nodded brightly in response. "That's my little girl."

"Speaking of which," said my silver haired father. "Have you seen Shani?"

"Oni-chan?" I asked while tilting my head slightly.

"I saw him brush up this morning," said Mother with a little concern in her voice, "Then he went back inside… What do you think he is doing, Naruto?"

"I wouldn't worry," said Father calmly, "He will be fine."

"How can you keep saying that it's fine when a seven year old boy often keeps himself in a dark room with no light? He listens to music inside and prefers isolation… no child should be like that."

"Shani likes to be alone most of the time," explained Father reassuringly. "It's not like he makes no contact with the outside world, Hinata, he is not an absolute introvert. He is just an introvert."

"I know that… I want Shani to come out, okay?"

"What for? Just leave him be."

"I don't want my son to be like a zombie," argued my mother in an understanding tone of voice. Her face showed only worry.

"Why do otousan and kaa-chan worry about oni-chan so much?" I asked innocently but my mind was nothing close to it. I truly needed to know why.

"I am not worried," replied Father having no hint of concern. "Shani is fine the way he is."

"He's too much like your father, Kagari-chan," said Mother rubbing my cheek, "It's not healthy to live a lifestyle like that where you don't show a bit of care to anyone or anything else. What worries me is that your oni-chan doesn't care much about himself either, very much like otousan here." Father shrugged without much feeling. Similarly, that was how oni-chan would react.

"I know oni-chan is really kind, kaa-chan," I said cheerfully and with sincerity, "I know that he is not going to turn bad, I believe in him."

"I know you do, Kagari-chan," Mother said warmly, when was her voice ever cold? "But kaa-chan doesn't want to see your brother so… stoic all the time. Sometimes it feels like we don't love him enough and it hurts me to see how he sees everything in such a dark perspective. I want him to be like you more so he can be more lively in spirit."

"I understand, kaa-chan," I replied in a low voice.

"You were talking about me?" a stoic voice came from behind Mother suddenly. All three of us gasped insignificantly knowing that was Shani, I wonder how he would react if he heard everything. I was frightened knowing that he didn't like people talking behind his back. Despite that we weren't insulting him in any possible way, it would hurt to hear other people talking about me in a manner that wasn't the most positive. Who was I kidding? I would be devastated.

"Good morning, Shani-chan," said Mother with a caring smile as she bent down to kiss his forehead. Oni-chan grinned but his usual stoic face took over afterwards. However, I knew that grin all too well, Shani was not happy. "What did you hear us say?"

"Enough of it," answered Shani not frowning but a sense of betrayal was evident in his voice.

"We're sorry," Mother said apologetically.

"You don't trust me? Am I a threat to you?" he questioned coldly. Mother and Father were taken aback by that in an instant. "If you have a problem with how I act in my damn life, you come to me directly and discuss it with me. Don't talk behind my back like that, I don't appreciate it."

"Don't talk to your mother in that voice, Shani," ordered Father with a look that showed us that he was not content. However, what Shani did next stunned me for he glared back.

"Not talk in this voice, Father?" Shani further challenged. Therage that was surpressed was similar to unbreakable ice,"Maybe you shouldn't have done what you did to begin with. I will be more than willing to change my behaviour if you feel uncomfortable with it but how does doubting me after what I was able to earn from you tell me about you people? You don't trust my judgment? You think that preferring to be alone is like a sin in this home? Do you simply think that being an introvert is such a danger that you want me to be conformed? How dare you think this lowly of me! I never expected that my own parents would doubt their son's actions when he clearly showed them that he is capable of having this stage of responsibility."

"Shani, that's not what kaa-chan meant," said my mother desperately wanting him to listen.

"I am not good enough to be like Kagari because she is cheerful where as I am not? She spreads harmony when I spread something else? What is it then!" Clearly, Shani's eye narrowed with fury.

"No, of course not."

"Shani," declared Father definitely not pleased but refused to act with rage. "Don't misunderstand your mother. She is just worried about your growth. You have no right to talk to us in the manner that you are using. Why don't you try to understand how your mother feels about you sometimes? How can you expect her to be not worried about you when she sees her own child not acting in a way that does make her concerned? She is trying very hard to make you feel loved and yet you don't show anything to make her believe that her efforts did something. Your behaviour is hurting your mom, you know that?"

"Do not have the right?" opposed Shani with his one eye glaring angrily, "You think such outrage can be easily disputed mannerly without one side getting hurt? You are too naïve to believe that, Father."

"Shani…"

"I do know that kaa-san loves me dearly, but I don't know how to respond to it… What do you expect me to say?"

"Why don't you just say I love you to her then?" I asked as I jumped off from Father's arms and beside him. Shani looked at me with a disbelieving look, he couldn't believe that I would stand up for him like this. "Kaa-chan would never get tired of you saying 'I love her' because she loves you very much. In fact, Kaa-chan loves all of us so much that it would pain her to see any of us in despair. Oni-chan, don't make kaa-chan worried because it makes me worried too. Sometimes, I can understand why kaa-chan is sad for you, she cries for you too because she knows what you have been through. If there was a chance to change the past, she would do it so none of this had happened."

"Kagari…"

"I want to see oni-chan happy regardless if he smiles or not. I want oni-chan to be happy and just make kaa-chan know that you love her and you love otousan too. You know, like anybody, they want to be loved too and you showing them that you care for them can bring a lot more than you can imagine." Amazement was the only expression evident on his handsome face. Was I weird to believe my brother was handsome? Definitely not since he was good looking but I knew he never considered his own appearance that much other than his eye.

"Thank you… Kagari…" my brother said while smiling very kindly to me. Without give me a chance to refuse, Shani embraced me gently but I felt a sense of unexplainable warmth in it. He was so loving -in a brotherly way- that made me understand further that my oni-chan had true kindness within himself. Father only smiled at my words and my brother's actions, where as my mom seemed very impressed and relieved. Not emitting any sound, Mother took the two of us into a lovely hug -which I giggled out loud as I received it when oni-chan only smiled.

"I'm so sorry, Shani-chan," said Mother sniveling slightly. Sometimes being a woman was, as Tsubasa would say, very troublesome for we allow our emotions to take the better of us. However, living our lives without such feeling meant that we were not much different from low rank soldiers who only followed every command without thought. I refused to be someone who would plainly obey to everything given to me. "I apologize for speaking about things that you may not have liked…"

"It's okay… kaa-san," replied oni-chan still lacking the word called passion but it was better. "I suppose you have a reason to be worried… I am sorry that my temper got the better of me, I hope you will forgive me for doing such an act." I knew my father smirked hearing such an apology, what words for a mere six-year-old child to have. Mother shook her head a little before kissing my brother on the cheek.

"I shouldn't have doubted you," said Mother. "Just always remember that kaa-chan loves you very, very much, Shani-chan. Kagari-chan, kaa-chan loves you too."

"I know!" I answered giddily.

"Likewise," replied oni-chan. "I'm just sorry that I said some of things that I said… However, I meant all of it. I seriously felt that way just moments before."

"Don't feel like that, oni-chan," I said holding his arm like how I always did. "Kaa-chan will never see you as a threat!"

"I know… Kagari… But that's what I really believed… Sorry, kaa-san… I guess I can say that I love you too, and I also love otousan… I just regret that I am not good at showing my feelings… I hope you two always know that I love you, no matter under what circumstances. I'll try to smile more…" Father's smile widened understandingly as Mother kissed her son again lovingly like a mother. I wanted to laugh seeing oni-chan's expression, I knew he wasn't someone who loved kisses all that much.

"Kaa-chan loves you too, Shani," said Mother as she retracted and stood up. Her height somewhat towered over us where as Father literally made us looked small. "Naruto, what should you say to Shani?"

"What is there left to say?" questioned my father grinning lightly. "Shani is a good boy who learns from his mistakes. I am very proud of him."

"Thanks for saying so, otousan," replied my silver haired brother. His eye remained quite calm during this conversation, and I was hoping to see more than just a mere bob on the head.

"That's not what I meant, Naruto," stated my lavender-eyed mother giving him a pout. "Shouldn't you say something to make Shani know that you love him too?"

"I love you… son…" said my father with hesitance. Like son, like father, I suppose. Oni-chan merely smirked as he detected the uncertainty in his voice. I assumed it was somewhat amusing to see someone having poor skills in specific agendas, but Shani always took every speck of weakness to his advantage. Like he said, their weakness was your strength.

"Good, now, who wants to have lunch soon?"

"I do! I do!" I shouted happily in glee knowing there would be good food. Kaa-chan never made gave us food poisoning in her life, and heck, I would be shocked if she did. In addition, I was getting hungry.

"Sure…" That was Shani's callous response. "I am kind of hungry…"

"Great! We will have lunch in thirty minutes! Naruto, can you help me?" With my father giving a nod (which was also silent) he followed Mother's lead and headed towards the kitchen to prepare good food that was to come. I was so anxious to see what it would be, I wish it was ramen but the bored expression Shani carried somewhat spoiled my appetite. After giving me a look of neutrality, oni-chan simply headed the other way back into his room by the hallway.

However, I caught him before he left my sight.

"Oni-chan!" I declared hugging him from behind. "Where are you going?"

"I would rather be alone…" he replied in a dead beat.

"But being alone is boring."

"I would prefer that, Kagari," Shani continued, pushing my kind offer aside.

"I want oni-chan," I whined cutely trying to get him away from isolation. "I want oni-chan! Come on, play with me! It will be fun!"

He merely rolled his eyes while struggling to walk ahead without avail. "I don't want to play, Kagari…"

"Fine, let's make a bet then!" I suggested while smiling brightly with innocence.

"A bet?" questioned oni-chan a bit surprised to hear a proposal like that. If he actually would stand from his spot and give his attention, then my suggestion caught his curiosity rather well. "What kind of bet…"

"If you don't blush after I kiss you, I will leave you alone, okay?"

At that point, oni-chan laughed, and in which caused me to pout by expanding my cheeks. In fact, he almost wanted to be an ass about how badly he was going to succeed.

"This had to be the easiest bet that I have encountered," he told me with a victorious smile. "You always kiss me and I never blushed once. What a silly girl you are, Uzumaki Reverie Kagari-chan. What makes you so sure that you could make my face redden if you kis-"

That was the perfect opportunity for me to kiss him -which I did, thus, cutting his sentence short. At the same time, I silenced Shani well for he could no longer speak. Of course he couldn't, I was kissing him on the lips. Although I didn't lick him or anything, heat was evident on his cheeks since it was a new experience, and I never did that to him before. As I pulled back ten seconds after -I wanted him to be in absolute stun- Shani immediately touched his mouth as he blushed quite furiously. Being a typical girl, I followed suit but I had a mischievous grin with it. I liked it -not loving it- and I couldn't believe it, andI wondered if he liked it, too. I loved my oni-chan, not romantically no doubt, but I wanted him to be loved.

"Kagari-chan…" he choked out in a gasp. I could tell he wasvery shocked indeed.

"You blushed! You blushed! Oni-chan blushed! I win!" I cheered in my usual carefree tone along with a bit of joy that wouldn't hurt his pride. Pointing a finger at him didn't hurt that much either. "Oni-chan lost! You promise that you will play with me!" That look of extreme stun was so priceless.

"I can't believe you kissed my mouth…" he said airily. "What a cheap shot… Teme..."

"I never said where, Shani," I declared victoriously. "You just assume too much. Never underestimate a girl!" Oni-chan simply chuckled as he put a hand on my shoulder, I wondered what he would be laughing about. It wasn't long before he gave me a kiss on the forehead along with a grin, in which I squirmed a bit but enjoyed it nonetheless.

"Fine, you win," he said calmly. "But don't expect that you can pull that kind of stunt every time, okay?" I nodded promptly in response. "So, what would you like to do?"

"Want to read me a story? I like stories."

"Sure thing."

After this incident, oni-chan did smile more at home and his developing optimism only brought the family closer. Even though it might have been a gradual process, we all knew that he was trying to be more… alive. Even up to this day Mother still had her concerns for him but it had become less frequent for Father had faith in him. I always tried to be there for everyone knowing that all of us needed to contribute in order for our family bond to remain strong. Furthermore, our family was something I treasured deeply up to this day.

Also, this was one of the first times that I witnessed emotions than logic from Shani. I was someone who allowed more of emotion to guide my life instead of having the neutrality of logic. Although logic was not biased and it could bring forth strong arguments to back up your thoughts, humans could not have such a strong strand on one and not the other. If everything was based on argumentation, this world would be lifeless thus personal morals and values would no longer be necessary. Anyone could imagine what kind of dull lives people would live without their own emotions and only following proof and statistics. However, having pure emotions wouldn't be as idealistic as it may seem to be.

If humanity would sometimes think of logic before their actions, I am sure that many of the wars in the past would not have started. The ambitions of war came from the heart; the desire; the ambitions; all of our selfishness; and also a lot of greed. If we allowed our passion to be the center and the source of our decision making, this world would be screwed for many years to come. Imagine everyone acting on impulse in a manner that because they felt like it or not thinking about the consequences of their actions. For instance, Konoha must have their logic and rationality before commencing an attack on the Sound. Yes, the Sound is despicable for what they have done to the Wave and although Tsunade-sama wants to send in troops to take them out, she cannot just make it because she wants to. In any case, there are outcomes that must be considered such as what will other countries think of us if we made such a decision? What about the thoughts of the villagers here? What chances do we have against them? In the end, humans must have a good balance of both traits.

When Mother worried about Shani, Father had his own concerns about me. I didn't understand why he would though but I clearly noticed that Mother never was that upset with me. Although I may not be a threat to anyone, I was unquestionably different from Father where as I had much qualities of Mother. He still loved me but I had a strong believe that he didn't truly know how to deal with me. Several years later, I knew my father loved me so much that he just didn't want me to think wrongly of him. In other words, he didn't know what the right way to love me was. There were plenty of times when Mother always managed to make me laugh and giggle where he could not. My daddy was never jealous, just regretful, I guess. Father did prefer to be stoic and silent -but full of wisdom- however, there were moments in his life that he wished he could express himself to a higher degree. I guess we all had our weaknesses.

How I wished I could make mine into my strength…

**_(More Kagari's POV)_**

It had been around a week since my family received an invitation to Yamase's birthday party. My family was delighted to hear that she would be turning seven where as we turned a little over 3 months ago. Being me, I anticipated the party with very high hopes, and it was no surprise that I was very happy during these past 7 days. Mother and Father noticed my little delightful spirit wherever I went, sometimes they would even tell me that other villagers' days had been brightened by me.

I never knew I was that powerful to spread out such influence.

Oni-chan, on the other hand, I would say he didn't react too enthusiastically. When I told him about it the other night, I wondered why he kept staring at the card that she gave him, as if that coloured artwork could speak incredible, unexplainable magic. A sense of amazement was definitely there, I knew something touched him but I could not fully detect what it was. My brother was a much-concealed person indeed; the word quiet would be considered an understatement. Sometimes, I could tell that asking oni-chan to simply nod with a smirk would be demanding too much from him.

I loved to see him smile, that was because he was my oni-chan.

Aside from that, I knew there was more to his so-called training during the afternoons. My womanly intuition always told me otherwise. How would I know, you ask? Oni-chan frequently or nearly always had strong scent of ramen on him when he came back. When I ask him he would simply say "I had ramen for dinner", and end the conversation like that, as if it never started or existed in our memories. I was a ramen lover since it tasted delicious; that was my opinion of course. Knowing oni-chan, those noodles were nothing more but food that had the ability to keep him away from experiencing starvation. In simpler terms, he never gave a damn.

Should I be suspicious of my oni-chan's activities? I knew I really shouldn't but I do get worried about him -often.

Where was I at the moment? My head was on my oni-chan's lap; my hand was holding onto him somewhere with my eyes half closed trying to take a nap. He was reading a book by the name "Where Would You Like to be Buried?" as he continued stroking my hair with his right hand and not even looking at me. It felt really good, and I wanted to purr pleasantly to tell him he was doing a good job. However, I knew oni-chan would rather like a soundless environment, therefore, I didn't make a sound. Just yet. I love him so much as a sister, he cared so much about me even though I always wanted to be with him wherever he went. I was surprised that he wasn't finding me annoying. Shani had a sense of mysteriousness that I wanted to know more about, and when he did open his cold exterior a little bit it charmed me to no end that he was a boy with kindness and love. The feeling was like a cleansing flood, it was overwhelming to know what great sincerity and care he was willing to offer.

I couldn't hold it in much longer, I had to make a sound. And it wasn't too long before I moaned softly when the treatment was just too good to ignore.

My eyes went up to his head slowly, and my lips frowned when I could only see the right side of his face. Two thirds of his left face was covered by his longer silver hair and it blocked his left eye completely, as if it melded into a shadow that was never meant to be seen. His eye showed no emotions other than staring at the page of the book in a manner that was close to obsession. His lip was forming a dark grin, and to me it seemed like he was enjoying what he was doing. I shifted my gaze to his ear, which had a headphone in it, and I soon smiled. Whenever oni-chan enjoyed something, I want to be there with him.

It was great that he liked the MP3 player that he received on his last birthday, I wish I had one but I had no money to buy it. It wasn't important though; such machinery wasn't all out needed in my life for I had friends. Oni-chan told me a mystery person gave it to him earlier last year. In response, I smiled and showed a little bit jealousy, which earned me a small hug from my brother. Up to this day, Shani-oni-chan still had no idea who actually gave him that.

Did I know? Of course I did, Yamase and I discussed about this gift a several days before his birthday. She was trying so hard to figure out the perfect gift. I could tell that she was about to faint when Shani opened her gift with a genuine smile at the end. I could remember very vividly how my cute little relative's face became infested with shades of red; I knew her wish to make Shani appreciated came true. Shani's smile was just too alluring for a girl to resist.

Yamase was a great relative to me; I really liked her as a sister. Not older, not younger either. For some time now, I knew Yamase had a liking for my brother for some reason that even she wouldn't tell me. I thought she could trust girls, in which she did but I couldn't blame her when it was her own little secret. I respected that, since I had my own secrets too… like my crush for Uchiha Asuran… I could dream about him all day. How much did Yamase like Shani? Or rather, did my oni-chan even know that there was somebody that was watching him all along? He probably did not despite his vigilance, since he placed Yamase in his heart as his close sister and not someone he would love romantically.

Would it be different if Yamase summoned up the courage to tell him? Could it bloom into something anew or scar their current relations forever? I personally did not know, yet I was surprised at myself for constantly not wanting to mind my own business about a relationship that would never involve me.

As a seven year old girl, I never experienced such a thing yet. I didn't even have my monthlies yet! It would look somewhat strange to see them together, but at the same time we should all feel happy for them if they did. I knew my cousin really cared for him although she was always from afar. In my opinion, people need a sense of self-confidence in order to achieve what they truly desired.

"Kagari-chan," Shani called to me, and which made my thoughts vanish in an instant. I took a glimpse of him with an innocent face; a smile was helpful to lighten up the atmosphere.

"What is it, oni-chan?" I asked dreamily. That easily caused him to raise his brow a bit but it was soon replaced by his usual stoic attitude. As soon as he shifted his lavender iris towards the left, I knew what he was saying in an instant, "Do you have to go? I was just getting comfortable." At that moment, I playfully determined that I wouldn't get off his lap. My action made him grin.

"As a matter of fact, I do have to go," he said as he poked my cheek. Soon enough, he played the affectionate game and kissed it softly. I loved his lips, I didn't know why. "But I will be going somewhere special."

"Special?" I questioned with delight, thus, I got up immediately with my eyes watching him intensely. "Where are you going? Can you take me too? I won't bother you."

"Sure, why not," I was surprised that he complied so quickly.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Where are we going then?"

"I'm meeting Asuran for lunch," he said calmly. Hearing Asuran's name made my cheeks burn. Did he have to see Asuran at a time like this? I always stuttered in front of him, I could get too shy… Oh, why did oni-chan have to see Asuran now… that handsome, loving Uchiha could only make me even more embarrassed! Didn't oni-chan know that I always had nothing to say to Asuran whenever he was there unless I really needed to talk to him? I felt so different in front of him, and I wondered if that handsome onyx-golden eyed Uchiha thought I was weird…

For crying to Kami-sama, I prayed Asuran didn't hate me.

"Do you have to?" I asked cutely trying to make him reconsider. I was good at hiding my fears and worries.

"You don't want to come?" questioned my oni-chan, somewhat surprised that I was almost declining the offer. He knew that I sounded like it. "I am sure Asuran wouldn't mind you there. You are more than welcome to be there."

"Really? Asuran would like me there?"

"You lighten up the atmosphere well," he said with a smile but a weak one. "I wouldn't mind you having lunch with us since you do like ramen. Besides, Asuran would like to know you better than just a good friend."

"Are you sure?" Doubt was all my voice managed to carry.

"Asuran wouldn't be mean, I swear on it. Well, I am going with or without you," Putting his scythe on his back so he did not need to carry it, oni-chan stood by the front door for a several seconds to see if I would react. Having ramen and Asuran at the same time… no matter how shy I was to be near him, there was no possible reason why I would allow such an opportunity to slide.

Without another thought, I leaped off the couch and heading out with Shani in my delighted and cheerful self. Shani -on the other hand- remained silent but a smirk was still on the face.

A second later, I kissed him on the cheek to show my thankfulness.

_**(Moments later)**_

"Hey, Shani!" called Asuran as he was in the restaurant sitting at a four man table when we walked in. This place had been a lot bigger than what Fathersaid it was before. Somehow, I wa sdisappointed that not too many people were here other than us three kids ,Ichikaru-san, and Ayame. Itachi was doing his missions and only helped out when he could. At least that was what Shani told me.

What could I say about this place? It was very appealing of course, not to mention that an aroma of ramen was present. I swallowed hearing that voice as Shani-oni-chan gave a wave. However, I knew Asuran was a little surprised to see me with him. Who wouldn't? I was considered the unexpected visitor, "Hi, Kagari. Glad that you could make it here."

"Hello," I said waving with a smile trying not to flush up like a moron. "Good afternoon, Asuran…"

"Good afternoon to you, too," he said kindly. "Hey, Shani, why is your sister here?"

"You don't like her here?" my brother questioned rather directly. I could tell the young Uchiha blinked a several times hearing that cold voice, Shani rarely used that tone to him. Come to think of it, I never heard oni-chan to be like that to us.

"No, it's not that…"

"Then what?"

"I just didn't expect her here, that's all."

"I wanted to treat her to lunch, Asuran," said Shani changing his voice to something lighter. "She really likes ramen, you know that. I thought she would like to try out this place's ramen again."

"She is more than welcome to do that," replied Asuran, "You want a bowl, Kagari? It's on the house." I knew what that meant; I would be receiving it for free. I loved ramen and if it was free, it was a deal I couldn't refuse! To be accurate, there was no way I would neglect.

"Sure! I want a chicken ramen with everything!"

"Everything?" asked my brother emotionlessly but undoubtedly found my choice of food queer. I nodded happily in return.

"It's tastes really good! You get to have a flavour of everything!"

"My sister is just a noodle lover…" said Shani to Asuran with a bored look.

"Well, you can't blame her, Shani," stated Asuran with a gentle smile, "I will get her the meal in a several minutes. Oh yeah, I need to talk to you later. Make yourself comfortable, okay?"

"Okay…" said my brother before he sat on the chair with me beside him. I took another glimpse of him and it was then when he rubbed my cheek with his palm. I didn't know why he did that but I knew he really cared about me in a way not all brothers would show. As he patted me on the head, suddenly my eyes felt weak knowing that I didn't take the nap that I needed from earlier. I positioned myself closer to Shani before resting my head comfortably on his shoulder. Before I fell asleep, my thoughts continued to ponder about Asuran and his handsome features for a child. Although he may be a child, he was outstanding in my eyes.

Why did I like Asuran so much? The answer to that wasn't something all out difficult. My oni-chan made very few friends in his life knowing that many of the children feared him for his hideous left eye. To me, it was nothing close to ghastly since it only looked like his activated bloodline. However, to some of the other children… a left eye like a crystal mirror wasn't something that would be considered normal. Anyone would be shocked seeing it for the first time. And like typical idiotic imbeciles, the kids cried out loud and yapped to their mommies and daddies saying how 'terrifying' my brother was to them. Terrifying, how dare they use such a word to my loving big brother! Oni-chan suffered from rejection and he even detested his own face. Sometimes, he would look at me with teary eyes… I knew he was jealous of my perfect, normal, visage. Oni-chan never declared it in anger; he would just take a glance before walking away like a boy whose soul was sold to the devils. Besides just me, otousan, kaa-chan and my parents' closest friends, one other person never minded about oni-chan's eye. He was, of course, Uchiha Asuran.

I admired Asuran for not having such prejudice like how the other children did. He willingly accepted Shani ever since he could remember. Like me, my oni-chan regarded him as someone worthy to have his trust and respect. I never knew Shani could have such compassion and human qualities towards anyone else other than his family, Asuran and oni-chan fascinated my own curiosity. Asuran had good relations with my family and he was also someone that showed maturity instead of childish stupidity. If oni-chan's maturity made me admire him, Asuran's skill in making a cold-hearted lost boy to become his best friend captivated me in a greater extent. I was family and the Uchiha was a friend. If oni-chan considered him his best friend, there had to be a good reason that was somewhere in the underneath. Similarly, my simple admiration turned into affection since I wanted to know Asuran more.

Truthfully, the three of us were quite close friends when we were younger but my timidity took the better of me thus making me somewhat hide behind the scenes. I was never like this to anyone for I wanted to be friendly to everyone and give a sense of kindness for them to experience. However, I knew I was not showing Asuran much of that openness since I often blushed when he was near therefore making me look exactly like Yamase as if she was close to oni-chan. No one had any idea how disgusted I am at myself for not able to show anything good to the one person I really cared about. I would not blame Asuran if he believed that I was a weirdo and not a good friend for I always hid from him like a coward would. Somehow, my own intuition kept telling me that Shani had an idea of my feelings.

Sometimes I get irritated that both of us were so sharp with another, we were nearly not able to keep any basic secrets from another. The best example had to be how he smelled like ramen, I would never believe the explanation that he gave me, I knew there was more to it.

"Kagari," called a familiar voice to my ear. "Kagari, wake up." I rubbed my eyes with my small little hands trying to ease out any kind of tiredness I still had. I eeped when I saw Asuran in my vision with oni-chan silently chuckling at my surprised outburst. Did Asuran laugh? No, but he certainly found it amusing.

"How long was I asleep for, oni-chan?" I asked as my head lifted from his shoulder.

"Fifteen minutes," he replied with his visible eye looking at me. "You should've took a nap when you needed it, Kagari-chan."

"I wasn't tired then…"

"You okay now, Kagari?" questioned Asuran who took a seat. In front of him were three bowls of ramen, and one of them was considerably larger. What made my eyes glitter with delight was that it had everything. It did a great job at making my mouth water. Shani sighed noticing my craving expression while Asuran smiled warmly in return. Why couldn't oni-chan support my love for ramen? It's too good to reject! "You want to eat first?"

"Yeah!"

"The big one is yours, and the other two are for us. Enjoy, Kagari."

"I will!" In a quick impulse, my hands moved on their own and grabbed the largest bowl on the tray in front of me without dropping a single drop of soup. After giving a short prayer, I dug my chopsticks into the multi-flavour ramen and brought it into the realms of my mouth. My tastes buds loved this magnificent taste, I felt like I was in heaven. Correct that, I was in heaven, this ramen shop was my heaven! My mother's ramen was great, but this was just wonderful. Shrimp, beef, chicken, pork, lamb… a fresh combination of everything was so overwhelming that I wailed in delight. Oni-chan closed his eyes while smirking and Asuran finally knew how much I loved this food. He smiled at my exuberance with care not saying a word. At the next second, I hugged my brother so tightly as if I was draining his life out.

"Ka…Ka…gari…" my older brother gasped through his words. The Uchiha's eyes began to widen with entertainment not even considering to help his friend. "Help… Asu…ran…"

"I love you! I love you! I love you!" I yelled out loud as my hold on my poor brother strengthened. Luckily, there weren't anyone else around since it was late for lunch or we would be getting a lot of queer looks. "I love you for taking me here! Thank you so much!" The look of Asuran's face was priceless, anyone knew that he was shocked hearing a girl saying "I love you" to a guy at the same age multiple times in a row. If we weren't siblings, everyone would suspect we were a couple.

"Glad that you like it here, Kagari," said Asuran still not helping his best friend, who was running out of air and the will to survive, "I made that ramen myself." My heart suddenly stopped and my hands released my drained oni-chan immediately. Stunning indeed, that was what my mind kept saying, did Asuran made that ramen? What a blast of talent! I never would've dreamed that he was this good at cooking ramen, it was so delicious! However, my face reddened also. Once my thoughts have relaxed from that exploding wonder, I realized that Asuran made it for me. For me, Uzumaki Kagari! I didn't know what to say at all. Should I tell him that I loved his kindness? Or should I hug him for bringing me closer to the divinity of heaven? Of course, the most extreme way would be kiss him for both reasons. Yet, my body didn't move… I was simply shocked and bewildered at the fact.

"Asuran…" I whispered with a blush.

"What, Kagari?" he asked curiously.

"Thank you so much for fixing me this… I really like it…"

"Glad that you like it, it was my first try…"

"It was?" I asked with disbelief but I was still delighted. "But it tasted so good! It can't be your first try, don't joke with me, Asuran,"

"But it's true though, Kagari," he justified while smiling. "I can't believe you like it so much."

"Of course I will like it! You made it after all. I am definitely coming again. This place will be my favorite."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure on that," said the Uchiha still grinning. "This is only a restaurant, there are plenty of better places than this." He sighed a little bit before his eyes drifted from around the place, this restaurant was great to me.

"I am sure it will always be one of my favorites," I said understandingly, my lips were forming into another caring smile. Asuran turned and looked at me with a bit of confusion, he wanted to know why.

"How come, Kagari?"

"It's the people in there that count, you know," I said as if I was dreaming. "You are the reason why I like this place so much…"

"What did you say?" he asked not sure if he heard correctly. Once I caught a possible meaning of my words, I blushed quickly trying to hide it. I told him it was nothing and luckily he bought it but there was doubt, I knew there was. I almost confessed to Asuran that I had feelings for him, how could I have been so careless when Father, Mother and oni-chan always taught me to be cautious in life. I was never over prudent, but I definitely had a bit of weakness in that category. One day, I would tell him that I appreciate him, and Asuran will know how I feel.

"Asuran," said Shani, who had been quiet for a while, I almost forgot that he was beside me. When I eyed his bowl of noodles, it was already finished. That was fast. "You do know why I came down here, right?" Hearing the low voice of my oni-chan, Asuran quickly turned towards him with his seriousness coming back in a flash. Giving a smile, he nodded while I was still lost. I thought it was just for a simple lunch, what else would they be doing? Was Shani hiding something away from me?

"What are you guys talking about?" I questioned innocently even though I wanted to know about it.

"Nothing much," said my brother, "Just talking about what I should be doing when class begins after this weekend."

"What are you planning then?" There was a distinct suspicion within my voice since oni-chan would never talk about planning in advance about school. I know he is a cautious boy but he never puts thought in the academy. He told me once that if that academy wasn't the place for him to enroll as an official ninja of the village, the academy would be the first place he would commit arson.

"Tick Iruka off," answered Shani easily as he swallowed a bit of water.

"How are you going to do that?" questioned the Uchiha grinning.

"That's what I have to discuss with you,"

"Should I…" I murmured but I was cut off by oni-chan. "Oni-chan!"

"No," he stated clearly with one eye intensely –or half intensely- piercing into mine- "There is no need for you to get involved. My… plot… to Iruka is my own doing. You shouldn't get in the middle of it, Kagari-chan. Please have the anxious anxiety when that day comes."

"It's not nice to tick off a teacher though…" I argued endearingly.

"Well," said Asuran sighing before giving a stretch, "You know how much Iruka dislikes your brother, Kagari. Personally, I want to pull off some stunts myself."

"You too, Asuran?" I asked not really believing this. As far as I was concerned, Asuran was one of Iruka-sensei's most treasured students. Not only was Asuran praised for his hard work, Iruka may be slightly more lenient as well. Undoubtedly, I thought Asuran was outstanding in class, I think he was even stronger than I in some ways; I suppose you got what you paid for, it was the same principle. However, Shani was nearly the opposite but of course Iruka wouldn't say it out loud, the chunnin would merely cut things short or just ignore my brother completely. Not that it was any trouble though, Shani preferred to be undisturbed.

"You are better off going home," oni-chan told me kindly as he kissed me on the cheek, "This stuff is private." Despite how much I wanted to stay by and find out what they would be discussing or plotting, I had to respect my brother's choice. It wasn't because he was simply older and as a sister I had to obey, but it was due to the reason that I respected him fully. There were just some things in life that I shouldn't overstep my bounds of authority. Shani always respected my decision and so should I. Besides, it was really none of my business; I didn't want to upset anyone. Nodding without my usual enthusiasm, I showed that I understood. Before I left, I gave Shani another hug and a wave goodbye, which they waved back without hesitation. I really thought they were discussing pranks during that time but later on I found out it was nothing that I first expected. Their previous words wouldn't indicate what happened later.

_**(Next day, several hours before the party)**_

I loved parties, and I still loved them today. However, I really loved this one since it was somewhat of a costume party. Yamase liked dress ups and being a girl of seven, I didn't blame her nor was it a surprise. The adults didn't have to dress up for the kids would be the only ones participating. In addition, Yamase would not demand so much for her birthday. To be very honest, I had no costume or outfits to wear other than kimonos, formal skirts and shirts for meetings or anything serious, casual outfits, athletic clothing etc. I was in a crisis of lacking the proper clothing. The reason of this conflict was more of why didn't I have any of this kind of stuff? First of all, I didn't care about it. Secondly, Father was never too fond of such things and neither was Mother. The party was in two blasted hours and I still had nothing to wear! I couldn't dress up like an athlete… that would look really pathetic. I only had one solution, ask Shani what he would do in a situation like this.

"Shani!" I half yelled as I banged on his bedroom door not even regarding him as oni-chan, "Open this door!"

"What is it, Kagari-chan?" he replied with his voice muffled due to the door not affected at all by my outbreak.

"I need help, can you help me?" I said with my most appeasing voice trying to get my way. It was that moment he opened the door, and his outfit kind of shocked me. It was not the shocking way that it would make me jump up an inch or so, rather it was more of shocking in how simple his outfit was. I suppose Shani would never take anything relaxing willingly. To the very least he did dress up… somewhat…

This outfit clearly was something different that he would wear everyday. However, it was only a blue uniform of something –it looked like a military actually- and his gray pants were very casual with ripped parts nearly everywhere except from his crotch and rear end. Having his hair unchanged from blocking his left eye, he looked absolutely casual in a sense that he wore something different than just blue, indigo, gray, black or white. In addition, the fact that he didn't button three of the buttons that was on his uniform thus revealing his black shirt underneath, I safely concluded that he did not take this dress up thing seriously. Of course, it was Shani, it was expected. At that split second, I somewhat regretted looking for him to help me. What kind of reliability would I have asking someone who did not give a damn about the entire situation? I really should've considered kaa-chan instead of this.

"You aren't dressed yet," he said smirking, I knew he was amused.

"That's why I need your help," I whined trying to be appealing. To add more affection, I held on to his hands warmly, "I need to find something good but I don't have any."

"I know," he stated as if it was the easiest thing in the world. In fact, it was true, how hard was it to say "I know"?

"How would you know?" I asked narrowing my eyes a little bit.

"I do know what kind of clothes otousan and kaa-san buy for us or even what kind of clothes we choose ourselves, we never bought costumes."

"True…"

"Why don't you just cheat?" he suggested, which made no sense to me whatsoever. All I did was gave him a blank look blinking a several times, "Okay, you have two options. Use genjutsu and make yourself a temporary outfit or you can just use the clothes you have and pretend that you are that somebody."

"I don't want to wear a kimono…" I moaned in a complaining tone, "They don't represent anything!"

"Sure they do," he said as he started to lean on the wall slightly, "You are someone who respects your own culture and you also look very pretty in it. I don't see a problem in that, do you? Better yet, dress formally like a professional businessperson or a lawyer. Act sophisticated to be in character and that works out nicely."

"Am I actually that out of options?" I asked in a down tone.

"Oh yes, you are." I could've sworn he wanted to mock me.

"How did you get your 'costume', oni-chan?" I asked him questioningly while pouting.

"Found it in the drawers. It looked like a uniform, so I consider myself a soldier."

"It doesn't really look like you actually even bothered, Shani-oni-chan. I wouldn't consider it a pass."

"Whatever," he replied dully, "I have no love for these things. Just consider yourself fortunate that you are seeing me in something that is different from my pajamas and usual cloak and whatnot. Damn, I hate these insolent pieces of fabric…"

"You look fine, oni-chan," Without warning, I tiptoed and kissed him on the cheek, "Thanks for the advice. I'll change into my kimono then."

"Glad to help," he said as he poked my forehead, which caused my cheeks to inflate, "Better get moving, Kagari-chan, the party is in less than two hours." This time around, I nodded delightedly before taking a short sprint back into my room to change. After half an hour of dressing and all the other procedures to get myself looking the best I could, I wore my blue kimono with a tint of makeup –which kaa-chan helped me- and Mother said I looked gorgeous.

Was I as beautiful as Mother said I was? In my opinion, I certainly looked prettier but nothing close to beautiful. Father's way of humility must've rubbed off on me well for I also never bragged about my looks, wealth, family etc. In addition, those people who actually seek fun from making others feel inferior were nothing more than a scum. Refuse to be a hypocrite –one of the mottos that I follow in life- and it indeed made life seem more meaningful since there was a commitment to keep. Also, it was a goal. Having such an insight, it wasn't too long when the question of what was the purpose of life came by. It was too much for a girl at seven to ponder about into a great depth yet this question never left my mind.

_**(Later on at the Hyuga Mansion)**_

"Oh, it's so good to see you again!" said mother delightedly when she met Aunt Tenten along with Uncle Neji at the front of the Hyuga mansion. I would never get sick of the exotic place since it washuge and the surroundings made it full in colour.Father smiled giving Uncle Neji a good friendship hug where as Mother was cooing my newest little cousin –who was in my aunt's arms- and Shani standing elsewhere with his headphones on listening to the rhythm. I would assume he was enjoying it but the neutrality that his expression contained truly puzzled people to a great extent. Knowing him, he certainly preferred being alone compared to having human interactions. I, on the other hand, wanted to coo to my cousin like Mother was. She was so cute for a one-year-old!

Who is she, you ask? She is Yamase's younger sister, Hyuga Kari. How much could I elaborate on an infant? Not a lot, actually other than she was soft, gentle, sweet, and totally endearing! Her eyes were identical to oni-chan's; lavender and will eventually obtain the noble sight Byakugan, but significantly rounder and larger to shine her adorable features greater. Kari had a beautiful child like smile that would make anyone calm. Lightening up people's spirits was her special trait, and I could tell that she would be like me in some ways –not that I ever minded of course. It was fortunate to have more of these people in this pathetic existence.

"It has been a while," said Aunt Tenten in her Chinese dress embracing Mother who was in her kimono, "Oh, Hinata, you are looking very well! You are younger every time I see you."

Mother blushed a little bit hearing such a compliment as where I was snickering mischievously. Of course Mother would not look old, since she was part of our family; the demonic family. All of us have demonic blood within our veins, and the difference between each individual was the percentage of the blood that was corrupted. I had fifty; oni-chan had fifty –but his capabilities of utilizing that demonic trait were more exceptional than me since he had Forbidden; Father had ninety; and Mother had around twenty percent.

Even so, this low amount was sufficient enough to do wonders in her body.

Not only was Mother having nearly eternal youth –she could look like a twenty-five year old at the age of eighty- she also obtained the Metamorphosis from Father's blood. Unlike Father's transformation to a large winged demon, Mother spreads out her wings like an angel in similar to my ability. However, due to the fact she was not someone who had a high percentage of demonic powers, the only thing the metamorphosis did for her was bless her with the ability to take flight to increase speed. I suppose lacking the increase combat capabilities advantage wasn't such a big deal to Mother, not when a vast majority of people could not keep up with her in a fight.

Anyone who approached Hyuga Hinata sinfully was practically asking to meet the devils in the deepest depths of hell sooner.

My mother's tactics surprised me occasionally indeed. Not only did she have very slow aging and flying abilities, her movements were now a deliberate demonstration of grace and beauty. This quality shined in combat when her agility, evasiveness, attack rate, movements were all effectively demonstrated to her favour. Coordination was a good word for Mother. There were a few times where errors happened, but my kaa-chan was definitely amazing as a human.

Father would sometimes say that Mother was like his guardian angel that came from the heavens to save his soul. I found it absolutely legitimate when Mother kept my Father's humanity in tact, and it was no surprise that he loved her with everything.

"Oh, you aren't bad yourself, Tenten-nee-san," commented Mother giving her sister-in-law a kiss on the cheek. Somehow I wondered why it was not sick to see women kissing another while if men did that it would considered gruesome, "How is the little one?"

"She is doing just fine," said my aunt happily with a smile, "Kari-chan already has her own sleeping habits so Neji and I no longer have any hassles at night."

"Hello, Aunt Tenten!" I greeted in a child's voice with glee. I might have interrupted, but both of them did not mind for a second.

"Hello to you too, Kagari," she said, rubbing my cheek smiling happily before holding Kari in front of me, "Would you like to say hello to Kari, too?" I only nodded with a sense of exuberance.

"Hello, Kari-chan!" I soon kissed her forehead, which made her smile a little, "She doesn't like me!" I said whiningly to my aunt. Mother giggled where as Aunt Tenten laughed softly like any kind woman would.

"Oh, she does like you, Kagari," explained my beautiful aunt, "She just needs to know you a little better." I looked at her with my head tilted slightly to question, but I soon decided to trust in her judgment. She did know Kari better than I did. She was her mom after all. "Does Shani want to see Kari?"

"He would love to, Tenten-nee-san. Shani- Where is he? Wait, where is Naruto?" asked Mother looking back and not finding the two males anywhere in sight.

"I think they went in without us, Kaa-chan…" I stated in a low voice. Mother only sighed as she suggested that we should go inside as well. Agreeing without a problem, all three of us went in awaiting the party that was to come. I couldn't wait until I experience a life of luxury again.

_**(Moments Later)**_

Like a habit that I followed every time I entered Mother's old home, Shani and I would head straight for the living room –which was now the children's play room- and have our moment of fun. This room was not connected to any other room aside from the hall where as the other lounge that our parents went to had access to the dining room –and that one was connected to the kitchen- and they would do their own stuff.

Who knew what they did, it wasn't like whatever they did affected me in any possible way. All I could assume was having friendly talks, more sophisticated card games, or other mature games, or maybe planning for a meeting ahead of time. After bidding a small farewell to Mother, Aunt Tenten, and Kari, I entered the living room to see who was there already.

Once I pushed the slide door aside, I found out I was not the first guest. Rather –except for Yamase since she lived here- Hikaru and Asuran were already here on the carpet ground examining their weapons. Yamase was on the blue couch watching the other two in this bright white room. I frowned noticing that they were dressed up –unlike me who couldn't pick anything other than an indigo kimono. Hikaru was in a tiny chunnin uniform with his mother's old Air forehead protector. Asuran was in a long dark cloak with a straw like hat that shadowed his eyes finely. Furthermore, Asuran also carried his usual weapon on his back. It looked nothing more but a long cleaver but a large section of the blade was hacked off generally making it useless.

However, I knew what it truly was.

It was actually a chakra generated blade weapon that was very similar to Shani's scythe. The only difference was that Shani could use his weapon effectively even without chakra where as Asuran's cleaver could only stab with the sharp point without the energy charge.

Kamishiro Hikaru was Kamishiro Rin and Gaara no Sabaku's only son -at least that was what I was told but I knew Auntie Rin was already pregnant again. Why did Hikaru have his mother's last name, you ask? Father explained that Gaara's family did not want their offspring to carry the former Kazekage's name. Sadly enough, that was all Father told me, and I wanted to know more. Then again, I thought a bit deeper and asked Hikaru himself one day. What he said to me that day shocked me quite well. That moment I realized that Uncle Gaara and Father were very alike, and it was no wonder why they were such good friends.

Uncle Gaara also hated his own heritage with his own reasons, and having hunted and hated by his own family and friends alike only drove him to his limits. How was he supposed to react when he witnessed the closest people to him betraying him and soon wanting to take his life? The only word I could use was devastating. He lived a life similar to Father's –which both of them had no control over- and it was a miracle to me that Uncle Gaara and Father grew up fine. The only thing I pitied for them was that they had such deep and possibly unforgettable wounds in their lives. I knew Father hated the Fourth Hokage up to this day, and if it weren't for Mother, I would never have known.

What was Hikaru's physical appearance? He was the oldest amongst the eight of us since his birthday was on January the second. He had sharp yet short violet hair but his eyes held a sense of clear green. Hikaru was quite handsome, I would admit that much. His height was definitely above average –around oni-chan's height. And like his father and mother, Hikaru had much wisdom in his words but he frequently put it behind a tint of humour thus making it easier for anyone to absorb. Was he loud? No, none of us were too loud other than Umi –she was especially cheerful around oni-chan- but Hikaru would be more than willing to be audible to lighten up the atmosphere.

He also had a secret like Shani and myself for he was also a half demon, and the only people that could help him enhance demonic control in combat was us. If he unleashed his Mother's bloodline to go berserk –the action was similar to his pupil breaking into shards making him having incredible enhanced abilities- on his friends, he had the potential to severely wound or even kill them. Auntie Rin was not only an effective mind reader; she was an advanced human being along with minor abilities to control the winds. In other words, Hikaru was the perfect precedent of Auntie Rin and the demonic blood from his father merely increased his strength formidably. Fortunately, Hikaru never abused such power for he believed that this was his special gift. He was blessed this for the bright future, and for the goodness in the world, and no one in this life would be able to tempt him to do otherwise.

It is funny if you picture the three of our heritages. We are all crossbreeds; it is undeniable. We have a demon father, and a human mother –who are ever so exquisite and loving. This world should have more of those crossing birth situations; it is amusing to imagine what kind of race this place would have. For example, a French man and a Greek woman marring another thus they would give birth to little Freeks. Imagine this, a woman from Iceland and a Cuban man therefore blessing this world with Icecubes! Possibly even take one from India and another from Spain for instance to make an Inpain. I don't know what these countries even are, but hell it's funny to hypothesize such possibilities.

Of course I am only joking, please don't take this so personally.

"Hello, Kagari-chan…" greeted Yamase in a fairy costume while getting of the couch with a welcoming smile, "Glad that you made it."

"I would never miss your birthday, Yamase-chan," I said happily and honestly, "I could not. Before I forget… Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks, hope you have fun!"

"Hey, Kagari," called Asuran standing up with Hikaru following a second later, "If you are here, where is Shani?" Hearing Shani's name being called, I noticed Yamase's face reddened immediately. She was this timid only hearing his name? What would she do if she met him face to face? However, it was that point where I found out that oni-chan wasn't even in here yet. I thought he came in before I did. If so, where could he be?

"I thought oni-chan would be here…" I replied confusedly, "He did come in before I did…" The other three only gave me a blank stare. The only girl nearly inseparable from her oni-chan had lost her oni-chan… talk about an unexpected turnout. Speaking of which, where was that guy? I dedicated myself to squeeze him; hold him; or anything that will not make him leave my sight for a second. However, having Asuran around, I may get a bit distracted.

"Yo," called a voice from behind me that held no enthusiasm. I positively could recognize the speaker. Once I turned around to face him, a gasp soon escaped my mouth with my hands on my lips. "What?" asked Shani giving everyone his bored look. Feeling the tension and pressure from behind me, I knew my adorable cousin found this outstandingly astounding. Here he was, my brother, with wasabi green hair. Finally, he looked dressed up but I couldn't get a hold of which person he was trying to be.

"Shani-chan…" murmured Yamase with a heavy blush on her cheeks.

"Hey," said Hikaru, smirking, "What's with the hair, Shani?"

"Damn it," added Asuran chuckling underneath his cloak but failing quite marvelously, "I didn't even recognize that it was you. What's with this?"

"This dye, you mean?" questioned oni-chan, pointing to his head with a stoic face, "Uncle Neji wanted to test it on someone and he said… okay, or convinced me that I looked good on it. Father agreed too and so I tried it out in the end. How do I look?" We all exchanged glances at another to seek the appropriate answer. In truth, oni-chan looked great with it for it radiated his lavender eye and other physical features on his face well. However, I knew Shani would not like such a compliment, since he would see it as insincere sincerity. At the same time, anyone would've known that Yamase was on a verge of maintaining her consciousness; she found Shani strikingly cool. Of course, her shyness and low sense of courage bid her from saying it.

"What's with the green hair guy?" asked another person from the door. Hearing that familiar voice, all of us turned our eyes to the entrance finding Kuroto, Umi, and Tsubasa watching us with an amused expression. Kuroto and Umi were in chibi Anbu uniforms where Tsubasa was like a flower girl in a wedding in an appealing white dress. If I knew Tsubasa well enough, she didn't prefer dresses, "Hey, where is Shani?" That question merely made oni-chan and Asuran flashing 'the look' at the younger Uchiha –it silenced him quite well.

"Wow," said Tsubasa actually having a kind of interest instead of her well-known laziness, "Is that really you, Shani?" Her voice finally sounded like a girl for once. If I said that out loud, she would be quite upset so I decided to keep my mouth shut.

"Yes…" replied oni-chan dully. However, before he even finished, Umi rushed to him with fascination plastered on her incredibly attractive face. Even today I was surprised that she had such beauty at the age of seven. Did I wish to have her beauty? Was I jealous? Sometimes I would be but at an early age I was taught that it was the heart that counted, thus the physical characteristics were only a fake persona/exterior.

"Shani-kun," the Uchiha girl exclaimed happily with a delighted smile, "You really know how to dress up, who knew you had such a liking for this kind of thing? We all should do this more often!" Oni-chan liked dress ups? Get real, I thought. If it wasn't for a special event, and I mean really exquisite, he would not bother trying. Yamase flushed a bit hearing Umi's words somehow while Kuroto and Asuran shook their heads gently in unison.

"I don't like this kind of thing…" oni-chan replied in the nicest way possible.

"You don't?" she asked, quite surprised, "But you sure took your time to be… to be…" All of us sensed awkwardness after that moment. To be very honest, we didn't know who he was trying to be. I was attempting to figure out the solution ever since I saw him in that unique uniform. I was ashamed that as his sister that I didn't know enough. I suppose I needed to try harder. "Doesn't matter, you look really great!"

"Thanks, Umi-chan…"

"Weird would be my word," commented Tsubasa, sneering amusedly. Oni-chan smirked as if he wasn't affected by that remark. Why would he be? Moreover, Asuran knew he thought he looked strange, and Tsubasa was only stating the facts. I giggled hearing that but Umi decided to flash a glare. A deadly glare wouldn't hurt either. Before she could speak, her words were interrupted.

"C'mon children," came a woman's voice after the slide door opened. We all faced the person in an instant and Aunt Tenten was there with little Kari in her arms. Once she eyed Shani carefully, Aunt Tenten couldn't help but giggle. "Anyway, it's time to cut the cake for Yamase. Happy Birthday, sweetie."

"Thank you…" my cousin replied timidly with a smile, "Thank you all for coming…"

"Who wants cake?" asked my aunt appealingly which caused all the kids to cheer happily. The only exception would be Shani –who shrugged with no feeling. Once Aunt Tenten moved out of the way, all the kids rushed out of the playroom and ran towards the room for feasting. Who wouldn't love sugar and cake? Regardless of how some kids may not love cake, they would like sweet things one way or another. Why? Because it was appealing for the taste buds, it was that simple. None of us had cake too often, and once we know we would have a chance to eat it, the next several moments would be close to ecstasy.

Once we all exited in a flash, I noticed oni-chan maintained at the speed of my aunt; slow and in control. It wasn't too long before Aunt Tenten kneeled down a little and allowed little Kari to be in the hands of my brother. Shani outstretched his hand to the young infant without a word, and what surprised me was that Kari took it with a smile. His eye was unreadable -but to Kari, she seemed to understand a sense of security. Neutrality turned into a welcomed smile, and soon she wanted to be closer to Shani.

In a matter of seconds, the baby was already in his arms purring softly as if she was going to sleep. Aunt Tenten smiled so warmly at the two of them before Kari literally fell asleep.

What was I thinking about at that moment? The only thing would be how not everyone would like you for who you are but never give up on yourself. Oni-chan was not liked also but he went for another crowd thus allowing them to know his true self instead of his cursed eye. Today, we had enough people that we care about and fight for. In other words, someone would deeply grieve for us if one of us literally disappeared from this world. I didn't know how oni-chan did manage to survive under these trials, but it undoubtedly made me admire him to another depth.

_**(After the cake but not after the presents during the night)**_

It was a wonderful party so far, I would say that much. Uncle Neji, Aunt Tenten, and Grandfather Hiashi certainly knew how to locate the party. I never thought we would be in the fabulous backyard during the night. The cake was delicious; everyone was having fun; children and adults alike –the adults consisted of Mother, Father, Neji, Tenten, Itachi,Ayame,Rin, Gaara, Sakura, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Ino, Lee, Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya (He was being a pervert so the Hokage refused to let him near us), Haku, Shino, Asuma, Kurenai, Gai, and Kakashi (Who was reading perverted books so Kurenai did not let him get near us as well)- were enjoying their time here; everything was going very smoothly.

Mother and Father soon approached Yamase and wished her a very happy birthday. It wasn't that long after they gave her a red pocket, it was a tradition. No doubt the Hyuga girl accepted gently with hidden glee, and Father and Mother's expression only showed satisfaction at her well learned manners. As I consumed the last bits of my own piece of chocolate cake, it wasn't a surprise that I didn't see oni-chan anywhere in sight.

To the least, he was no where nearby, since he was sitting at the far end of the mansion ledges looking at the moon as if he was meditating. His piece of cake was half eaten and I was sure that it was still his first piece where I already swallowed my fourth. Even in a cheerful party, Shani had to be like this…

Where was I at the moment? I was with the ring of friends along with Kuroto, Asuran, Umi, Tsubasa, and Hikaru playing with my baby cousin. Kari seemed to get along with Umi pretty well, and that gave the Uchiha girl something to brag about to the blond hair girl, Tsubasa. I have known them for a long time already; I would know what their rivalry was like. To put a long story short, they competed with almost anything. The contrast between them with Kuroto and Shani was that the boys' competition had more meaning and well dealt with. What I am trying to say is that Kuroto and Shani knew how not to get carried away thus conserving friendship first.

Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls, I guess.

Asuran –who was beside me- took a quick glimpse towards the direction of the far side of the mansion for a split second. When he detected a message for him to come over, Asuran excused himself and made his way to my brother silently while not wanting to draw attention to himself. I wanted him to stay since his arm was next to mine -and we were getting comfortably warm. A pouting look came upon my face soon, and the Uchiha sure seemed guilty for leaving me. Yet, Asuran needed to get out of it despite how much I –or even he- might have liked it.

His silent departure was good but however when it came to Shani, Umi always seemed to sharpen up in nearly an instant.

"Kagari," she said to me as the baby crawled out of the circle and soon got picked up by Uncle Neji, "Why is Shani-kun doing over there? Shouldn't he be with us?"

"You want him to come over?" I asked her as I drank down my soda, "You can ask him."

"That would sound strange…" she replied while blushing. Kuroto, Hikaru, and Tsubasa's eyes raised a little hearing that, why would it be strange? "You know Shani-kun… he's really… stoic…"

"And what?" challenged Tsubasa lazily as she lied on the grass, "You like him so much that you are afraid to talk to him? You think Shani would reject you?"

"Tsu-chan!" hushed Umi telling her rival to be quiet but her face continued to carry that blush, "I didn't say that! What gave you that idea that I like him? I don't…"

"Sure, Umi," said the blond Nara girl yawning as she took a piece of her cake and stuffed it in her mouth with a fork, "You just '_admire_' him, right?"

"I may admire him… Can't I do that?"

"No one said that you can't," stated Hikaru while smirking an all too suspicious smirk.

"However, you have been talking a lot about him ever since last week," Kuroto recalled with a knowing grin, "You have been saying how cool Shani was to you everyday." During that moment, Umi's face flushed deeply. At the same time, I had my own questions to ask. It seemed that I was missing a large piece of information that I needed to acquire in order to achieve perfect understanding.

"What did oni-chan do?" I asked immediately.

"He saved me." Umi responded dreamily as if she was in a fantasy.

"Saved you?" said Hikaru with distinct doubt, "Man, what did you do this time? Did you pretend to fall off a cliff? Or better yet, hire mercenaries to hurt you so you can put up an act?" That statement alone resulted a crushed can hitting the Kamishiro's skull. I would've laughed but I wasn't that kind of person to tease someone else's misfortune. In short, slapstick humour did not suit me. Once or twice to lighten up the mood would be fine for it was amusing sometimes, however, it had the potential to be too cliché; too overly used therefore making it annoying.

The perfect ideal cliché would be the phrase "No pain, no gain".

"You deserved that…" stated Kuroto dryly. Tsubasa agreed with a laugh and Hikaru only rubbed the wounded part of his head..

"Three mean guys were trying to… they were picking on me…" Anyone would've known the Uchiha girl decided to use different wordings moments ago, "I seriously thought that something bad was going to happen but fortunately, Shani-kun came by and helped me beat those bullies. He was so strong and brave, and he made them run away like a bunch of sissies! I was grateful that he helped me. Really, I was."

"Oni-chan didn't tell me that," I said in a quite disappointed tone, Shani never hid anything from me. "Was oni-chan… heroic to you, Umi?"

"Of course!" replied the raven pink hair girl delightedly. Her outburst made Hikaru's ears hurt since he was beside her, "Shani-kun is really cool! He's… very… charming…"

"I thought I was cool," complained Kuroto in a friendly way.

"Oh, you are, Kuroto-kun," commented the Nara girl lying on the ground with an admired look on her face, "You are cool to me and to everyone else here. We wouldn't just abandon you, we aren't shallow people." I nodded in agreement immediately to support my friend. Kuroto was our longed childhood friend, what kind of people would we be if we simply differentiate each other just because someone else had qualities that seemed more appealing? Everyone had their own abilities, strengths, weaknesses and different minds, and we could never judge anyone by their first appearance. That was what I believed in and still believed in it today. At that moment, I found that Asuran and Shani were around the adults' area while Tsunade-sama was with Mother patting oni-chan on the head. How did he get there so quickly? In a matter of seconds, my heart wanted to join in.

However, something else caught my attention when Shani approached Yamase. Of course, being Yamase she reddened like a strawberry but what surprised me further was that he took her somewhere else in private. That was when I stood from where I was, excused myself, and followed them in stealth. Noticing nobody was here; I planned my next advance. Where I hid was on the roof with my eyes activated, and I intended to understand the situation. Luckily, I got up here unnoticed. What I witnessed was surprising and it took me much self-control not to scream.

I simply couldn't believe it.

"Who would've thought you slipped through my guard, Kagari," said a voice from behind me. Okay, so I didn't bypass without someone noticing. That person was indeed skilled to detect my presence. With a serious glint in my now teal eyes, I stole a glimpse of who it was showing a fierce look. However, once I saw who it was, I discarded my previous thought.

"Asuran…" I said not blushing but surprised, "What on earth…"

"I don't know if I should curse you or congratulate you for having such capabilities of sneakiness," he said, shrugging in a quiet voice, "But I don't think I was too bad that I was able to detect you."

"Curse me?" I asked innocently but wanting to know the reason.

"Don't take it the wrong way," he justified as he now kneeled beside me looking down at the event that took place below, "Of course it's good that you are improving, I am glad." It was then when he turned to face me directly, "However, you may want to keep this a little secret. The thing happening with Shani and Yamase, I mean."

"What are they doing down there?" I questioned in a hurry, "Is oni-chan… does oni-chan like Yamase-chan? Does he?"

"Shani liking Yamase?" countered the Uchiha raising a brow. It sounded similar to disbelief, "He is giving her a present that he got for her birthday. He said it is a token of appreciation for being a good friend. Instead of having the adults going all mushy-mushy, he wanted to give it to her in private so it would be a thing between them only."

"How did oni-chan get that kind of money?"

"You don't need to worry about that," said Asuran, smiling. That look was practically telling me not to worry about a thing, and more or less commanding me not to be too suspicious. "He earned it well." I didn't understand this; how did oni-chan earn money? Somehow, the only chance he could be was during his training…

"Thank you, Shani-chan!" I heard Yamase say out loud from below. Asuran and I immediately had our eyes glued on the situation carefully without being seen. I gasped instantly when I saw my cousin wrapped her arms around oni-chan into a warm embrace, what surprised me was that she took the initiative to do it and she performed it quite marvelously. If my eyes weren't deceiving me, the Hyuga girl seemed to be nuzzling gently in his chest, trying to enjoy this as much as possible.

"You're very welcome, Yamase-chan," said oni-chan caringly as he hugged her like how he would embrace me, "Thanks for inviting me to your wonderful party."

"I would never not invite you to this, Shani-chan…" whimpered Yamase with a hiddensmilein his chest. "I would've been really sad if you didn't come…" Then she allowed her head to look at his, "But you really shouldn't have given me this necklace… It must've cost a lot of money. Even if it is my birthday."

"Don't worry about that," said Shani, "Can't I give my favorite relative a gift for being such a good person?"

"I am your only cousin… well, aside from Kari-chan…"

"Want me to tie it around you?" he suggested as he took the silver necklace that was loosely in Yamase's fingers. The Hyuga girl nodded with a tint of pink as he placed the jewelry around her neck to help her. A necklace… I was a little envious that oni-chan never brought me any jewelry, I would've liked it. But once I remember all the happy times that Shani gave me, all the gifts that made my spiritual self feel fulfilled and satisfied, materialistic objects were not necessary. It was then when I felt Asuran's arm brush against mine, my cheeks burned finally remembering that he was beside me the entire time. Anxious to witness the scenario below must've made me forgot that the Uchiha Asuran, the person I deeply admire, was inches away.

"Thank you, Shani-chan…" said Yamase shyly as she felt her present, "How do I look?"

"With that fairy outfit that you are wearing… I will say you look stunning." Hearing that kind of sincere compliment, my cousin flushed noticeably as of result. If Asuran said that to me, who knew what I would do? Next, my hands clasped to my mouth when I first handedly marked the most courageous thing my Hyuga cousin ever done in these seven years of her life, she leaned up to my brother and kissed him gently but unquestionably sweetly on the cheek. Asuran was in equal shock as well; I have never seen him in a state where he could keep his eyes opened without blinking once. When I really wanted to reveal myself to him, Asuran quickly held me back down silently ordering me not be an idiot.

"Shani…" murmured Yamase pulling away believing that she did something wrong, "I'm so sorry… I shouldn't have kissed you… Please don't get angry…"

"Why would I be?" oni-chan asked with a smirk, "I never knew you would be that happy to receive something from me."

"Why wouldn't I be happy when I get a present from my favorite relative?" Shani looked somewhat surprised since his eye opened a bit more.

"I am your favorite relative?" he asked in a more human like voice other than his deadpan expressions, "I thought Kagari-chan was your…"

"No," she said silencing him, "I like you better…"

"What did I do to make you like me better?" Once that question was brought out to the open, Yamase went back to her timidity and soon trying to look away. Just when some words were choking on her lips –I knew she wanted to say something, and you have no idea how desperate Asuran and I were trying to hear what she was going to say- all four of us heard someone calling us.

"Yamase," said the voice –I recognized it was Uncle Neji. Asuran and I cursed in our heads in unison where as Shani and Yamase became alerted at once. The question oni-chan brought up earlier of course was forgotten in a flash. "Where are you? It's time to open your presents."

"Kuso…" cursed Asuran as he crawled back a several meters before standing up. I followed suit as well, "We should get out of here, Kagari," The Uchiha told me softly as he offered his hand to help me.

"What should we do now?" I asked not wanting to get into trouble. "What if the other adults ask us where we went? What should we say?"

"Not so loud, okay?" Asuran said putting a finger on my lips, "If they ask us, just say you and I went out for a walk. Is that good with you?"

"A walk?" I recalled blushing immediately. How could I picture having a walk with Asuran? I would faint before that happened.

"Yes, just say that." It was that second when he took my hand in his own guiding me off the roof, "Come on, Kagari. We have to move." Nodding in the most convincing way as I could muster, the two of us sprinted lightly before leaping back down to ground.

"Wait," I said stopping the Uchiha from advancing. Once hearing my order, Asuran turned around to face me with a confused look.

"What is it, Kagari?" he asked concernedly.

"Was this thing planned all along? Is this what you and Shani-oni-chan discussed the other day when the three of us had ramen? Did oni-chan had a will to give something to Yamase-chan?" Asuran was sure taken quite aback at the amount of questions I had. Although I may be asking a lot, I could tell he was shocked at the desperation for the answers.

"Yeah, we were." Asuran replied in a sigh, "Shani just wanted this to be a little secret. There is no way that I wouldn't help my best friend when I have the ability to. Also, he cares a lot for his friends in a very indirect way where as you care for them directly. Kagari, you are very special to have a brother like him and I also really like you for being a great friend to all. You are the light in our ring without question." I was at a loss of words. Asuran liked me a lot for being who I was, he appreciated me; he cared for Shani and I; he had no prejudice whatsoever towards people. In a rage of emotions, I hugged him closely and rested my head on his shoulder blades for a several seconds. I didn't know if he blushed but he certainly felt surprised.

"Thanks for being such a good person to us, Asuran-kun," I said dreamily as I retracted my head. When my eyes looked into his, he quickly moved his away attempting to hide his own embarrassment. However, he had a strong sense that his efforts were futile. Once I giggled, he knew he lost.

"You're… welcome… Kagari…" he said stuttering very badly. His hands were shaking for his mind was in confusion in terms of if he should hold me in a small embrace to the least. Once I gave in more affection with my hands, he finally gave in and held me by the waist delicately. I would admit that this was very comfortable and Asuran was so good to hold. Despite how much I wanted that to last, one of us had to let go. But before I did, I gave a smile wholeheartedly therefore causing him to smile back. "Kagari?"

"Yes?"

"You remember what we should say if the adults…"

"A walk, right?"

"Yeah. Hey, we should get going." I immediately nodded and followed my good friend's lead. Yet, I wonder what oni-chan's excuse would be if the adults asked him what he was doing with Yamase. Later on that night, I wanted to laugh when he used the same excuse that Asuran made up and Yamase only nodded since Shani did all the talking. Fortunately, all the adults bought it so we weren't in trouble. However, even if we say we were on the roof, would we get into trouble? I highly doubt it. What kind of mischief would seven-year-old kids pull off? I seriously refuse to believe that we were capable of such mass devastation.

As I stole a glimpse at my cousin, I just couldn't help feel happy for her. Somehow, I wonder if oni-chan received anything after all the affection Yamase showed; I seriously hope he did. As for me, I would do anything to get Asuran to understand how I felt about him. He was someone too important for me to simply discard to someone else.

Overall, today was another remarkable day in my memory.

**_AN: It's exam time for me, so updates will be very slow because I need to study for them. Good luck to anyone who is going through the exam period and I wish those who already completed their exams to have a considerable grade. I hope you all liked this chapter! However, now I want to ask you all a question. _**

**_Who was Shani dressing up as? Yes, he was dressed up as somebody and if you know, please tell me. I want to serve this kind of like a game. If you guess it right… I can't actually give you any rewards but you certainly will be thanked specially if you get it right._**

**_Next, what pairings do you wish to see in the future? I haven't decided on who Shani should be paired with but Kagari is paired up with Asuran for certain. Give me your opinions if you wish to, it would be very helpful to me. Thank you very much for reading my story up to this point, I couldn't have done it without your major support! Until next time, it's probably sometime in February when my schedule isn't as messed up as this one._**

**_Those actually got rifles or firearms in general from me during Christmas, don't even think of using it to threaten me. If you kill me, there will literally be no story for you to follow and I have no intention to give this story to someone else to continue. What I am trying to say is… use it to threaten someone else! LOL! I will speak no more of this. Have fun with this. _**


	3. Chaos Demon

_**Downfall of the Light 3**_

_Chapter 3: Chaos Demon_

Legend:

"…": Speech.

'…': Thoughts and thoughts are also in italics

Scene Changes are listed in bolded italic brackets.

**_AN: I know my last chapter was very hard to read… somehow I was in my psychological and yet philosophical mode. Probably because I was dealing with Satanism… it's not that bad when you study it. Anyway, let's see now… I am not even going to bother saying my usual author's notes; I will go straight to the results of the game. After 28 reviews… or less… allow me, OpposingForce, to show you all the pitiful results that I received. _**

Total Reviews: 26

Those who bothered to try: 3

Those who did not know or even tried: **_The rest_**… oh, you people disappointed me to the top of my bent…

Those who guessed Nicol Amarfi, pilot of Blitz Gundam: 1

Those who guessed it was a Naruto character: 1

Those who guessed it was Shani Andras, pilot of Forbidden Gundam: 1

_**So, let's recall the clues. Firstly, Shani's hair was dyed wasabi green and his hair style remained the same. Secondly, he was wearing a blue military uniform unzipped that showed his shirt underneath. Lastly, he was wearing gray pants that had cuts and rips on it aside from the rear end and crotch area.**_

_**Okay, who the heck in Naruto has green hair? No one!**_

_**Nicol Amarfi may have green hair but his uniform isn't blue, so he's gone.**_

_**Shani Andras has all the requirements above, so Shani was literally dressed up as the person who I got the idea from. Only one person got it right, congratulations jasx316! You are the only one who actually got it! To the rest of you, better luck next time! **_

_**Thank you for reviewing: **Place-your-name-here, sephynarutocloud, HinatasBiggestFanboy, darkshaman817, joekool, Dragon Man 180, DaveBoo1378, violently-cheerful (wanna join my C2, I could use your help!), FoxRetainer, nonegel, jasx316, D.D Designator, RuByMoOn17, warprince2000, LegendaryONE, Monaki Cheung, Cobra-100, karatefumaster, Crot Buer X-370's living CPU, Forbidden, Devil's Blessing, Death Warrior Shade, AkiaBinZaid, Darkness Approaches, and Binnybobarino. **Without any further disruptions, I will continue with the story…**_

**_(Somewhere in the village of Sound)_**

"Yes, yes…" Orochimaru stated with fascination as he took mark in one of his master creations in his own lab, "Don't you think this is beautiful, Akira?" Akira, along with Orochimaru's most loyal subordinates Kiba, Tayuya, Kidoumaru, and Jiroubo were inclined to agree. This masterpiece was unlike anything that any one of them had witnessed.

"I have to give it to you, Orochimaru," commented the Paladin. "This is some monster you have turned it into…"

"Wow," said the Sound girl excitedly. She looked no older than sixteen due the improvement of their drug to have a slow growth rate, and since they were elite soldiers, they needed their youth. However, no doubt the side effects were greater. "Dazzling indeed."

"Do you even know what it is, Tayuya?" questioned Kidoumaru dryly. His physical attributes didn't change much after ten years. He looked like a seventeen-year old male when he was at least twenty four. The violet-pink haired girl only gave a scowl before the East Sound nin gave a yawn thus ignoring her.

"Seems like a demon…" said Jiroubo as he took a closer look.

"Yeah," said Akira seriously. "I found this minor demon in the outskirts of this village the other day. I couldn't believe that Orochimaru had such influence to make its dark powers awaken to this extent."

"So fast…" commented Kiba quite interested himself. Unlike the other three, he looked like an mature adult.

"Akira-sama and Orochimaru-sama are so amazing!" complimented the only girl in this group happily. Kiba, Kidoumaru, and Jiroubo gave a dry look at her sudden outburst but she silenced all of them with a glare. Akira chuckled thus making the girl blush insignificantly.

"What do you plan to do with this though?" questioned Akira in a serious tone of voice. "Since you made it in such a dangerous and unpredictable state, we can't simply leave it here. If this thing was awake, we would be in jeopardy for certain."

"Do you plan to seal it in anybody?" Kidoumaru questioned as he stole a glimpse at the winged demon who was lying perfectly still on the autopsy table. By the looks of it, this was a female.

"Akira," said Kiba, "Can't you seal it? Do you know how to?"

"Even though I do," stated the blond Paladin, "Sealing demons is most preferred for infants since they do not have the will to fight the demonic influence that is trying to take cover the body. When our bodies are matured by humanity… I will say that having another essence is very difficult to get used to. In some cases, we may even die. For a baby or infant, it will be like growing up with it kind of thing instead of forceful intrusion."

"You think too lowly of me, Akira," said Orochimaru with a sneer. "Of course I know the dangers."

"What do you plan on doing then?" asked Jiroubo silently.

"Unleash it on Konoha of course. Chaos would be such a good silent killer. Those Leaf fools would not even know what hit them." It wasn't too long after when the demon opened her eyes, the Sound Three immediately recoiled as she glared at them. Akira's eyes remained unchanged; Kiba twitched a little sensing the amount of power within this unknown demon, and Orochimaru's wicked smile continued to widen as the demon lady stood up from her spot. Once she eyed the snake sannin, a smirk came across her face. "So, you have finally awaken, Chaos. How are you feeling?"

"What have you done to me, vile snake?" hissed Chaos in a deadly voice.

"I have nearly made you into perfection, that's all," Orochimaru shrugged after giving an easy answer, "Don't you think you look beautiful?"

"Beautiful… Beautiful?" cried the demon lady with rage. In a split second, she faced the Paladin Akira with raw hatred, "How dare you abduct me, human! After otousan and kaa-san… and oni-chan lost their lives to Death Knights, you just wouldn't leave me alone to live in peace! I should kill you for taking my freedom away from me! With my new power, every one of you will not survive and I will kill any Death Knights that remain here!"

"So, you hate Death Knights, you say?" questioned Akira skillfully with a face that showed no intimidation, "Why waste such good power now, Chaos-chan?"

"Don't call me Chaos-chan!" she ordered dangerously while freaking out Tayuya, Jiroubo, Kidoumaru and Kiba, "What do you know about power? Look at this… I never had such disgusting darkness until you captured me. Why should I let you survive?"

"Why don't you see it as a gift of kindness, Chaos?" Orochimaru indicated along with a dark grin.

"Kindness? How can I see having these despicable dark powers to be a gift? You are a tyrant to turn me into this!"

"You should be grateful," repeated the sannin, "What kind of chances would you have if you fought Death Knights before? You were young, you were inexperienced, and most certainly you had no power. Now, with this new given strength and carried hate, you can have the revenge that you have longed for. Demons will have this kind of abilities eventually, I just wanted you to be satisfied earlier, Chaos."

"Is that true, human?" she further questioned with a tint of distrust. Her face still had that dangerous expression and her eyes were cold.

"Of course, we hate Death Knights, too," commented Akira still having that confident grin.

"We have a common enemy here, Chaos" stated Orochimaru smirking, "We should be allies."

"Why should I work with you?" Chaos scowled.

"I can tell you where a Death Knight is."

"Where is he…"

"He is in Konoha of the Fire Country," explained the snake man darkly, "I am sure you can recognize him easily. Also, Konoha is our enemy and some of them even do not hate those evil Death Knights. In fact, the Hokage there loves him. Don't you think that it's unfair that those kind of people are actually loved when they have taken your family away from you?"

The demon lady clutched her fists angrily. Her eyes showed a sense of hostility immediately.

"So now with power, what are you waiting for? Are you just going to have it to protect yourself or are you going to use it and take the revenge that you deserve so much?" After giving a groan of rage, the demon lady calmed herself down and eyed the sannin and the Paladin with a defeated face.

"What do you want me to do?" she declared silently.

"Not us," corrected Akira in a friendly face that could fool anyone, "What do you want to do? Do not do things for our sakes. You should indulge yourself more for no one else will."

"I am leaving to Konoha." With that statement said, Chaos outstretched her small wings and took flight immediately. As she excelled herself to the air, she destroyed the laboratory roof thus making a several pieces of concrete caving in on the others. Luckily, they all moved out of the way therefore that it crushed nothing but the autopsy table. As Orochimaru looked through the opened hole that the demon lady flew out of, a dark grin continued to plaster on his lips. It wasn't too long before he laughed out loud with satisfaction.

"Chaos would be a terror for that Naruto!" he shouted out loud to the skies, "It's over, Death Knight!"

"Can she actually take care of Naruto as you planned, Orochimaru-sama?" questioned Kiba with a bit of doubt. "She does seem kind of rebellious…"

"Do not worry, Kiba," assured the sannin still having that smirk, "Chaos is too enraged to think of anything else other than vengeance on Death Knights. I am certain she would not be distracted by anything else."

"Who's going to clean up this room?" asked Tayuya quite annoyed.

"I believe I will leave it to you four," said Akira giving a chuckle, "Me and Orochimaru-sama need to have a little talk. I want this room cleaned in 3 hours, okay? Thanks." Saying it in such an easy way along with a shrug when the four seemed very unhappy with the decision, Akira and Orochimaru both exited the room leaving the mess behind.

"Kuso…" cursed all four of them as they began to work.

**_(Meanwhile, elsewhere in Konoha)_**

"Come on, oni-chan!" begged Kagari as she took Shani's hand and pulling it in an attempt to drag him, "Take me to Asuran's place! I want to have ramen!" Naruto sighed a little seeing his son was practically making a death grip on the doorknob not willing to give in. Hinata was beside her husband somewhat enjoying the display of affection but she wished that nothing too drastic would happen. Normally, Shani would take her but the entire family just came back home from the local park.

Shani hated the park, the trees and grass along with the fresh air would be fine but the damned insolent playground got to his nerves. The slide, how he hated the slide… Not only did he have to climb up that narrow passage that could make anyone fall due to the lack of grip on the stairway –and to make it worse, it was titanium- fateless fools known as idiotic bastard kids always wanted to hurry up as if it was World War 3. The next thing would be damn swings… why would he want to sit on a plastic board supported by two damned chains where someone would be behind him trying to push him as **_hard_** as they could so his head would meet Mr. Metal Bar personally as he went around? Finally, those blasted wretched teeter-totters. Sure, he may go up and down, down and up and hell it may seem quite fun but it wasn't when some jackass decided to jump off thus making him descending sixty miles an hour (100 kilometres) downward to crack his nuts.

Mere detesting would not justify the rage he was feeling. If the next person suggested to play at the park anytime soon, Shani would kill them and he would be damned sure that a funeral would not be held. Just to make sure it wouldn't, the minister would be the first to die….

"I am not going…" he declared still not letting go.

"Kagari-chan," said Hinata as she came forward and bent down a little to reach her daughter's height, "If Shani-chan doesn't want to go with you, I can cook you some ramen." However, the girl only pouted in refusal.

"I want oni-chan to go, I'll be bored if I go alone."

"But Asuran is there," justified the half demon boy, "You won't be bored."

"But what is fun if it's only Asuran and me?" she continued to plead as she pulled him harder.

"Asuran would not ignore you… damn it, Kagari, can't you just go alone?" Shani was seriously losing his patience. "It's not like Asuran doesn't like you…" Once Shani said it out loud, the girl blushed deeply. This did not go unnoticed by Naruto and especially not Hinata. The Death Knight only sighed softly where as the Hyuga lady smiled warmly.

"But… oni-chan…"

"Asuran will keep you company," assured Shani, "And if he doesn't… I'll hit him…"

"Don't do that!" the Uzumaki girl said loudly in opposing the idea, "Don't hit Asuran… Fine, I won't go then…"

"Shani," interrupted Naruto while shaking his head, "You know your sister really likes ramen, right? I know what you are doing, you're indirectly forcing Kagari not to go to have ramen. Let me tell you something about women, you have to give them what they want and they will come around knowing that you cared about them. Just take Kagari there again and then you can justify with her another time. If you don't, girls –or practically anyone- won't like you."

"That's right, Shani-chan," agreed Hinata with a smile, "You have to treat girls sometimes with a little more consideration. Trust me, you get along a lot better that way."

"Oh please, Mother," the Forbidden child spoke with sarcastic dramatic action, "I have been surrounded with girls all my life. You, this attached little sister, Yamase, Umi, Tsubasa… how would I not know how to deal with them?"

"How do you deal with them, Shani?" questioned Naruto with a smirk.

"I don't have to answer that," replied the young boy with a unreadable face, "However…" He then turned to face his flushed sister. "You, Uzumaki Kagari, love ramen too much. Do you know that?" He poked her on the forehead softly with every syllable. Kagari's shade of red turned more significant therefore she wanted to hide it. The best way was for her to cuddle in her brother's chest, once she did that, she affectionately embraced him.

"I know I am troublesome sometimes," Kagari told him quietly with a sweet voice, "I love you for being so patient with me… I love you…" The older twin only groaned a little bit before he held her by the waist to give her a small hug. Naruto grinned at his son's caring behaviour. Hinata seemed very proud.

"It's okay, Kagari-chan," said Shani to her ear, "I know you like Asuran so you want to go." The indigo haired girl immediately started to pound her brother with her tiny fists. Due to her position, she seemed to be doing nothing and that only made Shani grin. The blush on her face was too amusing to ignore.

"Stop teasing me, oni-chan!" she whined cutely, "You know I like…"

"I know, I know," stated Shani as he kissed her forehead, "Asuran likes you, too." That statement made her cheeks burn again.

"So, Shani-chan," Hinata said sweetly with her charming smile, "Are you going to take her to have ramen then?"

"Yeah…"

"Let's go then!" shouted Kagari taking her brother's hand like before and this time forcefully pulled him along. Since he wasn't prepared, Shani was practically dragged on the floor. Naruto's eyes opened a little seeing his son being tortured and Hinata sighed pleasantly seeing the two of them were getting along. "I'm going to have ramen! Yay!"

"Have fun, you two," Hinata told them happily, "Don't come back too late, okay?"

"We won't." The younger twin replied with an exuberant glee. By this time, the older twin got back up from the floor after having a serious date with it. Suddenly, his cheeks were held lovingly by his sister's hands, her dark blue eyes were showing nothing but sincerity. If Kagari wasn't his sister, Shani would've been easily seduced. Hinata noticed immediately that her daughter had very strong motherly instincts, she was always amazed that how magnificent her children were. She awaited the next action with high hopes. It was that instant that Kagari kissed Shani on the lips passionately and muffled grunts emitted from the boy. No tongues were involved in it but the force that Kagari gave in would've made anyone believe that they were in love –which they weren't of course.

"Kagari-chan…" the young Death Knight whimpered when she broke away. "You…"

"I what?" she questioned him victoriously along with innocence, "You didn't like it? I know you did. Come on, let's go." Not giving him a second to respond, the girl quickly took his hand with her own and exited the living room; through the short hallway; opened the door; and left the house in a snap. Hinata still had her heart-warming smile where Naruto was still somewhat stunned at the previous display. After a few seconds of taking everything in, he sighed to himself thus catching his wife's attention.

"What was that…" Naruto coughed in his words.

"They can be so cute, don't you think, Naruto?" Hinata asked as she sat on his lap like a girl. In addition, she allowed her hand to feel the smooth skin –amazingly soft for a male- on his skin. The Death Knight raised his brow a little bit seeing Hinata being so affectionate all of a sudden. Somehow, he had a small feeling of knowing what she wanted.

"Yeah…" he said as he kissed her on the cheek. "But they are ten years old already, they aren't babies, you know, Hinata-chan."

"But they always will be my babies," she reasoned with an alluring eyes. When she leaned her face closer to his, the Death Knight wisely moved his head back thus avoiding it.

"Okay," he interrupted as his hand held her chin gently, "What do you want?" Hinata merely responded in sinless manner by tilting her head to the right slightly. However, the smile she carried did not make her anything close to pure.

"What would I want from you, Aegis-kun?" the Hyuga girl questioned her husband with a touch of innocence, "You are my loving husband, you always bless this family with everything, you love me so much that I can't help but to love you back, you gave me two wonderful children, what more do I want?"

"…" Naruto couldn't say a thing but yet he knew she was up to something.

"Maybe there is something that I want," she unexpectedly said with a smile.

_Bingo._

"What is that?" Naruto questioned with distinct suspicion since she used the name Aegis.

"I want another baby…" Hinata told him with a slight blush on her face. If Naruto was drinking something, he would've easily spat it out to make a perfect rainbow. A baby… what was she thinking? He couldn't have another baby, having Shani – the dangerously dark boy who everyone believed he only had one eye- and Kagari –the light of their family who's delightful nature pleased everyone. To be frank, both of them were great children but certainly hard to deal with if both of them were together. At least that was what Naruto believed in. Up to this date, the Death Knight didn't know how Hinata could have such tolerance and capabilities to raise her children this well. She was amazing, as Naruto would say.

"Why, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked not believing what his wife was saying, "Another baby? We already raised Shani and Kagari for ten years now. We shouldn't have another!"

"We are only twenty seven, Naruto-kun," she justified when she swooned all over him seductively wanting her way, "We are still young and your demonic powers have given me more youth then I could ever want. You know, I would still be fine after giving birth ten times."

"That doesn't mean that you should just get pregnant all you want, Hina-chan," Naruto replied with logic.

"I am not asking for ten more kids, Naruto," she giggled cutely. "I just miss taking care of babies. Please Naruto-kun, give me another baby…" At that moment, she was shaking him slightly to plea.

"Hinata…"

"Naruto…" It was then when she held his shirt to hold him still on the couch that he was sitting on. "Even if you don't want more children… can you do me a favour?"

"What is it, Hinata-chan?"

"The kids aren't here right now…" she began with a tint of pink on her cheeks and a cute smile, "Do you want to… make love?" Naruto's eyes widened in a flash, just what kind of question was that? Make love? The last thing he wanted to do was to make love! He had to admit Hinata was a natural goddess in bed and she said that he was amazing but Naruto never felt the sexual desire to take the initiative. Hinata, on the other hand, loved it to a great extent. What Naruto was worried about was that she was too skilled at it as if her inner desire had further potentials that he may not have known. Just when he was deep in his thoughts, the Hyuga girl took this chance to kiss him on the lips passionately. To make it more effective, she kissed him for a long time. Since she was prepared, she knew she could last where as Naruto did not.

"Hina…"

"Please do it for me, Naruto-kun," she said as she embraced him lovingly. "You told Shani that he should please women by giving them what they want first, right? You should do the same and I will come around, too." What a persuader she was to get what she wanted. Hinata was very good at this –at least when it came to wanting Naruto to "help" her. He was a caring husband and he would do almost anything but when it came to very close intimacy, he always had a problem.

"I am sort of regretting teaching him that lesson now…" he told her in an amused voice which caused the girl to giggle, "However, what I am more disgusted at is that those words actually came out of my mouth…"

"Yes, you should follow your own words and not be a hypocrite," she continued to persuade him as she planted a kiss on his cheek. "What are you waiting for, Naruto?" It was then when the Death Knight instantly pinched a sensitive spot on anyone's body. He smirked when he saw his wife's head rested on his in an unconscious manner; she would not be able to force him to make love if she was asleep now. When he picked up Hinata in a bridal style to take her back to their bedroom but suddenly the girl turned into a fork in a cloud of smoke. The silver haired Death Knight's eyes twitched noticeably when he found out he was fooled by a simple Replacement Technique. If this wasn't the real Hinata…

_Crap…_

Naruto didn't dare to turn around when someone made a firm grip on his shoulders, the softness of those hands… he would never not recognize it. Just when he began to perspire due to fear, he was suddenly turned around meeting the real girl with their faces inches away from another. Although he was at least six inches taller than Hinata, the Hyuga heiress made do. Without another warning, she kissed him passionately again giving the most endearment feeling she could give him. Of course, that was overwhelming. As they pulled away, she grinned devilishly.

"You're not going anywhere, Aegis," she ordered with a touch of seductiveness while her finger began to draw circles on his neck, she loved it when he was terrified due to her evil charm, "Come, and never try to make your wife faint. I am sure I can make you faint though."

"Please don't, Hinata," Naruto beseeched his wife with evident panic. "I can do anything! I will take you to the mall, or hot springs, or take a short vacation or something. But please, Hina-chan, not the bed… not the bed!" She paused for a moment pretending to consider those choices but the Death Knight knew she was not thinking of anything.

"Good variety of choices, Aegis-kun," she said back with a little bit of teasing, "But not good enough. You know I am not a materialistic girl, I can never have those things to substitute having you. Now, be a good husband and make your wife happy. Don't be so shy, Naruto, we're married for eleven years now." Not allowing any more time to be wasted when they should be having a good session of intimacy, she commenced what she planned when Naruto was cold sweating with horror. She knew she was evil but she didn't care at all if it was Naruto. There was one thing left for him to do –retaliate to the fullest. When she began to drag him back down to the basement, Naruto did the impossible; he screamed. Hinata's naughty grin increased another depth seeing her husband was in her complete control and to make him stop his futile attempts, she kissed him passionately, which he returned when it was too appealing to refuse. Although no one was outside the residence during those screams, someone heard his cries from another location.

"Gaara-chan," called Rin as she placed a several dishes on the table and another bowl for her infant daughter, "Did you hear Naruto-ni-san scream just now?"

"No…" replied Gaara with his eyes looking at his wife questioningly, "How come?"

"Nothing… Let's eat, okay?"

"Yeah!" Hikaru agreed as he dug in into his meal happily henceforth leaving a smiling Rin and Gaara.

**_(The next day, First Person POV)_**

I scanned my right eye across the room to observe my surroundings. A smirk soon came across my face when I found that nobody would become a nuisance in my own meditation. However, before I closed my eyes fully, I wanted to take one last look at my friends. I think I am getting too ahead of myself for explaining this, allow me to explain my current situation.

I was at the academy classroom. The time was morning before class began and due to the fact that the heat would be able to consume us alive if we stood out there, the class decided to remain inside. Although I was someone who could tolerate a lot of things, I wouldn't commit myself to a secondary method of suicide. Since -as explained before- everyone was inside, it was no doubt that the classroom was in similar to a carnival. Who could blame them for being loud? Correct that, who could be angry with them for emitting sound? No ten year old child would simply sit still doing absolutely nothing when there was freedom. The only exception would be me for I disliked human interactions. I preferred to know myself well before trying to understand someone else. It is the same principle as "Have the ability to take care of yourself before taking care of others".

My right iris looked over to my sister, Kagari -who was surrounded by girls and guys alike in the lower area of the classroom since I was on the highest part. In addition, I noticed that most of them were boys. Ever since she gotten older, her shining light became radiant thus it welcomed and attracted many people. What surprised me was that she accepted everyone with care and sincerity. That easily made her someone that everyone liked and some of them even liked her romantically. Not having the need to ask, it's not a surprise that my sister was very popular in school -not because she was beautiful, but she was genuine. With Kagari's maturity, she was able to refuse without hurting any of them but I wouldn't allow just anybody to be involved in terms of having a relationship with my sister unless if it were Hikaru, Kuroto or Asuran. However, I knew Kuroto was beginning to have a sense of admiration towards Tsubasa and the blond hair girl always had a liking for the Uchiha. I knew Kuroto would never like Kagari in that aspect.

Asuran and I knew Kagari liked Asuran the best within the group of friends. She never showed it directly in front of the crowd but her words always carried a small tint of additional affection that it would make the golden-onyx eyed Uchiha blush. My sister was very efficient with words to get her way, even I have fallen into those kind of traps before. Fortunately, Kagari never abused it but only merely wanting to indicate how she was feeling. If someone insisted not to give in, my sister would not force it any further. She had her limits. If I knew Asuran well -which I did, I was certain that he was fascinated by my sister. He noticed how her endless charm seemed so… affectionate, and there was clearly an indicator that she would only show it to him and no one else. Despite they may be simple actions such as a hug; a few words of praise; holding hands for a mere second to have fun; all these things made Asuran blush to a degree that he could actually faint from blood loss. He truly appreciated my sister.

At the next second, I eyed my other friends who were elsewhere. Yamase was with Umi, Kuroto, and Tsubasa. Hikaru was beside me taking a nap with a blindfold so there wasn't much of a need to observe his sleeping form. The only thing that he said to me was "Please wake me up in the next century, Shani." And he fell into his own deep slumber after that. I wonder why he would be so tired from. As far as I was concerned, I should be the one that was dead tired since I worked three extra hours yesterday. I could tell that Asuran was quite weak himself today but Kagari's happiness served as his fuel. Seeing Kagari shaking, Asuran to wake up certainly proved to be amusing. Hikaru these days was still being a very good friend to the rest of the gang; I was glad that he was here for us.

My eye glanced at the Uchiha girl, Umi, and my lips already formed a grin. Nowadays, she was quite attractive for a ten-year-old girl and her heart was much more valuable than gold and silver. Although she may be very defensive or even rudely snap and people who did stupid things, she did it for a good cause and always held a encouraging personality. She loved to smile and her smiles seemed so heavenly in my eyes that it would make me grin if she did it to me. However, I would love to see her smile to Tsubasa sometimes. Even Kagari agreed with me on this one, Umi was never this bitter to the blond hair girl. I suppose it was ever since Kuroto and Tsubasa gotten closer together.

Umi seemed to be quite angry that Kuroto was paying more attention to Tsubasa then her. She couldn't possibly believe that as a sister she couldn't get her big brother's attention. To make it worse for her, she was losing to her rival. She never approved having Tsubasa so close to Kuroto and believe me, she tried everything to get those two apart. Umi even looked for me to help her but I somewhat talked her out of it by saying that she should be happy that Kuroto and Tsubasa were getting closer as friends, and having such a good person that she knew well was much better than some stranger. Umi may have smiled at me with approve after that but I knew better though. Even today I knew the Uchiha girl had a tint of spite about it. I simply tried harder -in an indirect way- and I suppose the only good thing that I got out of it was that we became even closer friends.

I grinned when I stole a glimpse at my second cousin, Yamase. This girl still wore the necklace that I gave her three years ago around her neck. We all knew that she treasured it a lot and I had to say that her now more matured features made that piece of jewelry turn her into something that I would personally consider beautiful. Yamase still carried that sense of timidity around her but her smiles -like Umi- was alluring and charming. Why was she not popular like Kagari, you ask? The reasons were that Yamase was quite conservative, and rather not attract that much attention from people. I suppose her status in class was higher than mine since that many people did not think that I actually existed. To be completely honest, over half the students in this class did not know that I was Kagari's brother. Not that it mattered though, that only meant fewer interactions with imbeciles. I really liked my cousin for she was such a kind spirit. If anyone actually approached her and became her friend, I certainly have no doubts that they would be glad to have her around.

"Shani-kun!" called Umi catching my gaze at them with a smile. I thought my hair would've blocked my right eye from their visibility but it looked like I proved myself wrong. I wanted to curse out loud for not being cautious enough, "Hey, you want to join us and chat?" She even made a signal for me to come and once Yamase found out who Umi was waving to, she blushed shyly and slowly looked away. My eye went to Kuroto and he didn't mind all that much. Tsubasa could've cared less.

"No thanks," I said shaking my head. My face was still passive. "I rather stay here."

"Please come down here," Umi begged from a far, "It will be fun." I knew she was trying to be as promising as possible; I would give her credit for persistence.

"Thanks anyway, Umi-chan," I replied in refusal.

"So you're not coming down?" she asked me mischievously.

"No."

"Fine, I will come up and get you." My eyes opened hearing her next plot. When I looked at Yamase, she seemed to like that idea too. I didn't like this one bit and I had to act fast.

"No, no, no," I said waving in refusal and in slight panic. At the same time, I was backing away. "You two shouldn't waste your energy trying to get up here. You two should just stay where you are and have your fun…"

"But it wouldn't be fun without Shani-kun," justified Umi in control as she and Yamase continued to approach up to this level. I had no other choice -actually I did, there was always something called compromise- I immediately leaped down to the lowest part of the classroom having nearly giving a male student a kick on the skull. Seeing that I was down here, the two girls smiled something in similar of a devil having his soul. Was I dead? Who knew.

"You're going to sit with us now, Shani-chan?" asked Yamase sweetly to me, "Since you are down there, I mean…"

"Well," I declared looking at my right wrist faking that I was looking at the time. However, my watch was on my left hand, "Look at how early it is, I got to go." Lame excuse, you ask? Definitely, no doubt, "Later!" With that easily said, I ran out the door hoping to escape them. It wasn't like the fact that I didn't like them; I was just never someone who would prefer having such company. Just when I thought that I was in safe-haven, I suddenly detected two energy signatures behind me. On second thought, I would make it three.

"Shani!" shouted a girl from the rear. I turned my head to the right so my right eye could see who it was. If I could actually see myself, I would swear that I would be able to see my iris shrink in shock. Yamase, Kagari and Umi were on my tail trying to catch me. How did my sister get involved? I did not know but I somewhat got the feeling that Yamase must've convinced my sister to follow. I cursed her for having such influential capabilities. "Don't you escape!"

"Sister," I yelled back not angry but clearly a little disappointed while I tried to increase my movement. "Why are you joining them? You were supposed to help me!"

"Can't help it, oni-chan," she said as she gathered more stamina in her run trying to catch up with me, "It's fun to chase you." My eye cringed hearing such an answer, when did I, Shani, became a source of entertainment to women? Another thing, how come those three were so fast, when did they achieve this kind of skill? As I zoomed and made a sharp turn at a turning point, I could detect that I was running a tad too quick in an indoor facility. If I didn't have enough control, I would've easily fell out the window after shattering the glass.

"Wait up, Shani-chan!" demanded my cousin from behind. As if I would let them catch me. However, I knew I was in luck when I saw Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama coming my way. Of course Jiraiya must be teaching the older class today but I would use this to my advantage. Without a second thought, I dashed right at the two elderly sannins in at least Mach 2 speed.

"Thanks for escorting me here, Tsunade," said Jiraiya to the still unbelievingly gorgeous Hokage.

"No problem, I do want to see some of the children myself," she said kindly with a smile. "I'm really glad that you decided to take a role to teach these children."

"I have been doing this for six years, Tsunade. You don't need to thank me after all this time."

"What made you do it though?"

"I guess I miss teaching and guiding my own apprentices," he replied smiling in a caring manner. It was then when the two noticed that I was charging at them. Were they shocked? Very.

"Out of my way, old man!" I ordered as I pulled out my scythe. I immediately struck the ground with the spearhead and elevated myself thus getting behind them after gaining some thrust. As I landed while smirking with my back towards them, I quickly gathered chakra to my hand aiming right at the incoming girls.

"Shani," Tsunade panicked like a grandmother. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, if it isn't Shani," said the toad sennin annoyingly to me. "I'd bet you are trying to be cool."

"Oh," I retorted rudely. "And I bet you lost your virginity to big breasted sluts in bars."

"Harsh…" Tsunade said in astonishment. "What's happening, Shani?"

"Nothing much but girls," I replied stoically as I saw the three girls finally turning the turn I was at six seconds ago. In a flash, my eye and face turned into a crazed expression. "Eat it, Different Dimension Flare!" Once I unleashed my beams rapidly at them, Umi, Yamase, and Kagari's faces went in alert and avoided in the best they could. I could hear them yelp a bit as well. The looks on the old man and the Hokage were indeed priceless.

"Why is Shani-chan attacking us?" questioned Yamase in a squeak to any of the girls.

"That's low, oni-chan!" shouted Kagari smirking, "Using us as target practice."

"Why you…" Umi hissed with a deadly glint in her eyes before generating a massive chakra like bomb, it wasn't long before she fired it at me in a violent whip. "Obliterate!" I grinned darkly when I sensed the amount of chakra put into that single attack. Using a bit of energy, I generated enough for a Different Dimension Reflector. As the bomb made in contact with the highly concentrated shields, it immediately shattered into essences of chakra making it completely defective. Umi grimaced where I smirked.

"Please you guys…" Yamase murmured innocently trying to get the girls to stop.

"No way, Yamase-chan," Kagari stated when she prepared to attack, "It's more fun this way. Eat it, Fire Element: Dragon Inferno!"

Utilizing a bit of thrust, I easily avoided it but the beam ignited as it made contact with the ground. Henceforth, it exploded right next to Jiraiya. As of result, he was fried and toasted. I wanted to laugh but I had more important things to deal with. I immediately continued my escape.

"You're in the way, old geezer!" Kagari shouted as the three girls trampled over him. He didn't even have a chance to cry out his agony –which I was nearly dying to hear.

"It's really amusing to see how you can get pummeled by three little girls," said Tsunade laughing out loud at the sannin's misery. Then she turned around to leave. "Oh, I will leave you to grieve."

**_(Currently)_**

Passing by a several teachers nearly cutting them in half since I had my weapon in a position to charge, I soon found the door that gave me access to the outside. Tackling the metal door, I was able to reach outside to the heat. With my Byakugan permanently activated in my left eye, I detected the three girl's presence without difficulty. Just as a smirk came across my face again, suddenly my veins felt an undeniably uncomfortable presence. I immediately scanned around the vicinity with my right eye to see if anyone was actually here. Just my luck, I found nothing but something was definitely here. This dark sensation was cannot be ignored and without thinking, I instantly leaped high to the skies and I landed on the academy's rooftop. Initially, I was to come up here to avoid the girls. But now, it looked like it was for something more important. What on earth was going on?

'Damn it… I can't shake off this feeling…' I thought as my face flinched slightly due to frustration. There was nothing in the distance, the Byakugan could only see air, clouds, buildings, people, trees, wilderness and such. I knew something was out there, and I did not like it one bit.

'So you sense it too, Shani,' came a voice in my head. I knew who that was immediately.

'Forbidden-sensei,' I replied humbly, 'You can detect it, too?'

'Yeah… but this thing is unlike anything that I have sensed…'

'What do you mean, sensei?' I wanted to know immediately but my face nearly remained unchanged.

'This is no ordinary aura… it's too dark to be a person's aura if I may correct myself.' My sensei told me carefully with a serious face, 'And Shani, I can tell you ahead of time that this is more than likely to be energies of a demon. You better be extra cautious in the future.'

'I understand… but where is this demon?'

'I cannot guarantee if it is a demon though,' he said with his previous looks unchanged. 'However, if you do encounter it, you better use everything you have to defeat it. Only your family can see demons if they are hidden and others can be in jeopardy if you don't take the wisest actions.'

'Is that thing here though?' I questioned clearly wanting an absolute answer.

'No…' Forbidden told me with a hint of worry, 'But its energies must be very high for us to be able to notice it from here. Be on your guard, Shani.'

'I hear you.'

'I will find you when I need to. Summon me if you have to, okay?' He was sure persistent in giving me warnings. Why would I blame him? He was my spiritual guardian and my close friend. If it weren't for Forbidden, I would've lost my sanity during the times that I was alone. Come to think of it, it is kind of ironic sometimes to see someone insane talking a volleyball. We believe that they are insane that they talk to an inanimate object but to them, if they are actually talking to it so their mind will not go insane from the lack of communication. They are trying to do everything to be sane but we see it as insane. Talk about irony…

'I hear you,' I repeated stoically but with more annoyance as my demon master vanished in my mind. I soon discarded my previous worries and awaited for the worst possible scenario. Something was coming… I just knew it. Emitting a sigh in a dreary tone, I leaped down to the ground to re-enter the academy. However, somehow I kind of sensed that I have forgotten something, there was another reason why I jumped on the roof. My own intuitions told me that my decision was a mistake.

"So you're up there, oni-chan!" I heard my sister shout pointing at me with a cheerful face.

_Crap…_

Yamase seemed excited to have found me while Umi had a determination of passion. Although Yamase was too timid to do anything but blush and smile, the Uchiha girl certainly proved otherwise.

"Shani-kun!" cried Umi as she tackled me by the waist holding me hard along with her face half buried into my chest. In a flash, my back made contact with a tree and damn hell the pain was nothing close to tolerable. "I caught you! Now you have to sit with us!"

"Ow… my back…" I wheezed with a cough as Umi's embrace tightened on me. In that kind of awkward position, I was having a hard time breathing properly. "Can you get off me?" When the girl raised her head a little bit with a blush on her face since she was holding me, my eye opened noticeably when I saw that glare -the glare that was practically telling me that to give in, or else.

"No, you're coming with us," she ordered adorably.

"Yamase-chan," I tried to reason in a desperate attempt, "Please tell Umi-chan…"

"But…" My Hyuga cousin responded with her head tilted innocently, "I want you to sit with us, too… Shani-chan should be with his friends…"

"Which side are you on?" I yelled out loud with pure panic that my sister and Umi grabbed me by the legs and began to drag me back in to the building. "No, you insolent women, you can't do this to me! I have my rights! I refuse to be dragged like this! This outrage will not be forgotten!" Of course Kagari and Umi wouldn't care; they merely giggled and laughed it off. The only chance I had left was Yamase.

"You will sit with us through lunch too, Shani-kun," demanded Umi with a smile.

"You know you like to, oni-chan!" added Kagari cheerfully.

"There goes my nap…" I whimpered with dread -or rather very evident dread. "Yamase-chan, do something!" What surprised me was that she giggled out loud. I didn't like it at all.

"You look really funny being dragged," Yamase said smiling sweetly, "I don't have the heart to… take the fun away from Kagari-chan and Umi-chan…"

"You're sacrificing my freedoms here, lady," I said with my eye looking in hers. It was somewhat uncomfortable since my vision turned upside down. Of course, I was being dragged.

"But you know it's worth it," she replied softly.

"Worth it is hardly the word…" I retorted with clear dread.

"You get to have your marvelous sister and her friends to be with you, Shani," Kagari stated happily, "I know you like it."

"No… no… No, I don't!" I wanted to shout but it only came out as a loud declarative statement.

"Oh, you will…" finished Umi as the three girls took me back inside forcefully. I knew there was no way for me to get out of this. Kagari, Umi and Yamase would make this day a living hell without doubt. Asuran would take advantage of this and laugh at my misery, and who knew what else would happen. Indeed I loathed life to the maximum.

**_(Later on that day)_**

I left the academy rather early today -the dark feeling still had not left my senses ever since this morning. I didn't even bother trying to bid a goodbye for I wanted to leave this place unnoticed. The energies were getting stronger and more obvious, I wondered if Father and Mother felt this as well. However, as my eye glanced at the right side of town, suddenly I felt something was there. My eye couldn't see it but the presence was undoubtedly closer than before. If I could visualize it more clearly, I was nearly certain that the thing was here in this village. I had no time to waste; it was better to deal with it now than later.

"Kuso…" I cursed in a hiss.

"Why are you swearing, Shani-kun?" a voice asked me from behind. In the next second, someone was holding my hand. When I turned my head a bit, I was surprised that it was Umi.

"Why are you here?" I asked not in the nicest way. Yet, she didn't seem to be affected but actually returned a kind smile.

"I should be asking you that question, Shani-kun," she told me sweetly. "You okay?"

"I'm okay…"

"You're lying," she stated immediately as she looked intensely at me. I moved back slightly when I heard that. "I know you are."

"No, why would I be?" I questioned her logic with softness.

"I know you too well, Shani-kun," Umi said as she leaned closer with a pink face due to timidity. "We have been really close friends for a long time, don't you think I would know how you think?" Intentionally, she took another step forward. "You know you can tell me anything."

"Something is just bothering me…" I said hoping that it would be sufficient enough. I truly did not want Umi to be worried with issues that she was not able to participate in.

"Did you have a bad day?"

"Not really…" Was my answer enough? I did not necessarily had a bad day but it wasn't the greatest either. Once the dark presence felt more uncomfortable, my eye immediately eyed towards the west direction in a desperate hurry. Umi stiffened knowing something was wrong but I sincerely doubt that she knew what it was.

"Shani-kun,"

"Umi-chan," I said holding her shoulders firmly. My touch made her blush instantly and I couldn't believe she looked very appealing like Yamase when she flushed like this. "I am sorry, but I need to go somewhere right now. You can't come with me and please don't tell anyone."

"Why not? Is something really wrong?" she pleaded with pure care for my safety.

"I hope not…" I knew my serious features told her enough for she didn't persist afterwards, "Umi-chan, I will be okay, don't worry about me." The next thing that she did took me completely off guard; she moved her head into mine and kissed my cheek. I thought it was one of those pecks in the cheeks that she always did but was I wrong. I never would've expected that she did it with such passion and genuinely. Her lips were attached to my cheek for at least five seconds before she pulled away along with a charmingly flushing face.

"I'm sorry…" she told me when she played with her hands a little, "I didn't mean to kiss you for this long…"

"Wow…" I whispered to myself as I felt my touched face. Umi moved her head innocently and leaned forward to check my reaction. She soon giggled when my face seemed dazed by her affection. "Umi-chan… I…" I just discarded my previous thought and kissed her forehead like how I always did. She emitted an eep when I did it so suddenly but I knew she liked it. Once I retracted, I grinned when she showed a pout -she did it every time since I frequently took her off guard.

However, she soon embraced me tightly without saying a word; it was no wonder why Umi and I were close friends. Not only did we talk about deep issues in life; helped another in emotional needs -it was actually I who helped her, and to put a long story short, we cared for another as close friends. After giving my good friend a hug, I took off to the west side of town to discover the mystery of this unknown presence.

_**(Sooner or later)**_

Taking flight with an half activated Metamorphosis –since I only spread out my devil wings- after I was out of sight from Umi, I swiftly flew to the designated area to check it out. The aura was definitely present, but my eyes couldn't truly see it. Forming a series of simple but yet unique hand seals, my hands soon formed my Father's bloodline limit -The Unholy Sight. Unlike Kagari, I was not as skilled as her when it came to this ability. She at least had the second level of this ability where as I was on the first. However, I was clearly stronger with Mother's bloodline limit and she merely was somewhat better than a novice, to the very least we actually had two abilities. Once my eye contained a glint of teal, I flinched with frustration when I witnessed what the enemy truly was.

It was a lady -a winged demon girl who had dark energies deeper than anything I have encountered- who knew how strong she was. To be precise, this was the first time that I had seen a demon other than my sensei. When I took a good look at her face from afar, a sense of moral hatred was displayed more than anything else available. Was she beautiful? I would say she was gorgeous for a demon. Her height was perfect; a nice body that showed anyone that she had potential; the winds that blew her long violet hair were a deliberate sign of grace; her visage was elegant and her red eyes only shined it further. At the same time, rage and hate were what consumed her. With my eyes engaged, this became evident to me. I didn't know what could've caused her to be like this but with her mind so unstable, there was no telling what she may do.

"Kuso…" I cursed as I glided to a nearby corner to observe from a distance. By the looks of things, she didn't seem to notice me. However, why was she just floating there eyeing the vast skies and the people below? What was her motive?

"Where are you Death Knight? Where are you hiding…" the demon lady bellowed with a beautiful voice but it contained nothing but hostility, "Show yourself…" I wondered why she would be looking for a Death Knight. As far as I was concerned, the only two Death Knights in this village were Father and I. I doubted that she would be looking for me. If she wasn't, then she must've been referring to Father! What did otousan do to her? Why was she taking on vengeance -if that was why she was here. I didn't have the time to sit back and ponder about the different possibilities for it was then when this demon raised her hand and generated chakra into her palm preparing for an energy blow.

_Crap…_

"If you won't show yourself, I will flush you out! I will kill these people so you will finally know my existence! Say goodnight to your precious village!" At that instant where she was about to unleash her energy bomb, I flew out of my cover with my weapon in hand. Without thinking of the consequences of revealing myself, all I knew was that I couldn't allow her to commence her destruction.

"Stop it!" I yelled as I came down from above her ready to slash. Hearing my voice, she finally noticed me. However, that smirk that she held told me she was prepared for this. Once I violently slashed vertically, she easily moved back insignificantly that my attack damaged nothing by air particles. Groaning in irritation, I pulled my scythe back and swung heavily horizontally. The result was the same thing; she avoided it with no problems. Seeing that cocky grin on her face in the corner of my eye, I decided to stab with the spearhead. She was no fool, I would give her credit for that for she immediately took out her sword and defended efficiently. She even blocked it to an extent that she actually locked my scythe together making this combat to a stalemate.

"A little boy?" she questioned with a brow raised, "Didn't your mother tell you not to fight with strangers?"

"Shut up…" I spat back as I struggled to break out of this lock. Without giving any precautions of her intent, she quickly pulled her sword back thus yanking me with it. Once I was centimetres away from her body, she raised her knee and bashed it into my gut. Grunting painfully, my hands lost grip onto my weapon due to the torment. In a swift movement, her fist made in contact with my face therefore sending me crashing down to the ground. As I slid a few ten feet back, other villagers gasped that I was being pummeled by nothing. Of course they couldn't see her, she was in her demonic invisibility. Being typical cowards -as Father would call them- they all fled with fear as their source of fuel. I did not know whether I should be grateful that they knew how to value their lives or curse them for being such selfish bastards. Not that it mattered now; I had more important things to deal with. That demon would not be dealt with if I continued to lie helplessly on the ground.

"You are an unquestionably persistent boy," she said to me as she tossed my scythe at me. Flipping back, the spearhead missed my crotch. As I gathered chakra into my hand, I attracted the weapon back into my grasp. "I am surprised that you are able to see me within my demonic cloak. You are no ordinary boy, are you?"

"What do you want, demon?" I demanded in a dead solemn voice.

"I know you are not an ordinary boy, human," she repeated with a leer. "Only Paladins and Death Knights could detect the cloaking, you are a Death Knight!" She certainly made snap judgments; I would give her that much.

"What is your prejudice against Death Knights?" I took flight immediately when she drew her sword. It wasn't long before she charged at me with her raw fury. In a quick reflex, I blocked her attack that was aimed for my shoulder but of course I didn't defend without difficulty. She was strong and more than likely to be even more powerful than I was.

"Death Knights took my family away from me!" she screamed with sadness as she gave another attack. Utilizing a bit of thrust, my body quickly evaded the blade by a mere inch but she quickly charged up energy within her palm and released a beam flare at my chest. In a flash, I disappeared with a Blink and appeared ten meters away from her. However, that didn't stop her onslaught from ceasing. "I had nothing ever since I was a child! Father… Mother… my brother… they were all gone and I couldn't do anything about it! I hate them all… They killed my loved ones! Isn't it that simple?" Another scream came out of her lips as she gave another heavy slash at my scythe. As her blade struck mine, I winced when I felt the amount of strength given into it. This was not good.

"Kuso…" I cursed when her foot jammed into my chest causing me to glide back powerfully as of result. I held in the pain in the best way I could but in a flash she was already in front of me. I gasped right before her fist smashed into my face. In response, I only became more defenseless.

"You little punk… only killing you will be the soothing that I can receive after all the hurt you people have given me!" Immediately after her words, she unleashed another concentrated beam at me. Gaining some agility, I dodged it effectively and tried to counter with my own.

"If you lost your family…" I tried to reason as I cast a series of Mana Burns -which she dodged them all gracefully without breaking a sweat- I flew back as she charged at me again. "…Shouldn't you try to do things that would not resolve in another tragedy like that? What good will you accomplish if you make others suffer!" Not allowing her to take the advantage, I wielded my scythe back slightly and dashed towards her. Noticing the increase in my agility, she quickly moved out of the way. As I charged past her, I opened my palm just to unleash a few surprise Shadow Strike attacks. As the daggers pierced through the air, the demon lady winced angrily before shifting to the left making my assault useless. She was good indeed –too good rather...

"They didn't care about my family," she reasoned harshly when our weapons hit another's again. However, this time was intense. "Why should I give a damn about theirs!"

"Is that what you are fighting for? Vengeance?" I challenged her logic as my stamina began to weaken. "Is that truly what you want to do? What is it that you're fighting for?"

"How would I know the answers to such difficult questions?" she countered back with her eyes deadly fierce like mine. Her rage was taking the better of her and obviously I was losing my ground in this situation. "My life now is to kill or be killed… it's that simple, Death Knight!" After her ferocious cry, she broke the clash of weapons and unexpectedly fired a demonic green flame from her sword. Within that short distance, it was an impossibility for me to evade. The only thing I could do was to use the weapon I had to defend hoping to reduce as much damage as possible. Once the attack overwhelmed me, I was forcefully blown back towards the forests in the west. Of course, I took much damage during the process.

"Kuso…" I cursed as I felt my hands were fatally burned. Luckily with my healing, it wasn't as critical as I expected. After casting a Rejuvenation on them, I was able to wield my weapon again. Although I was able to fight, I did not stand a decent chance against her. Currently she was coming here trying to make sure my body would permanently remain a corpse, how did I get myself into these things. Not wanting her to spot me, I quickly hid within the forests to buy some time for me to think. Despite how little time I may have, a little was better than none.

"Come out, little boy," she said ever so sweetly, "I won't hurt you…" I knew there was a catch. "Much…" How should I react hearing such cold, shivering words? This demon was indeed frightening, how could I ever beat her? Although I haven't reached my limit, I was certain that she was not close at fighting her maximum. It was a guaranteed losing scenario for me but I had no choice but to fight serious now. Making another set of hand seals, my hands have formed another unique seal. In an instant, a passive dark aura surrounded my body and the Unholy Aura was finally activated. With this, my chances of defeating her would increase -that was what I hoped. If I even needed to use Forbidden-sensei's attacks, I would.

"Destroy!" I shouted angrily as I leaped to the skies along with a mana generated scythe. In a split second, I aimed directly at her with my scythe. "Different Dimension Lightning!" A massive lightning bolt came forth from my weapon travelling at an incredible pace. Cringing her eyes in a grimace, the demon lady swiftly flew higher making my pursuit to a dead miss. However, that was when I smirked. Suddenly, the beam curved upward unexpectedly and the face she carried was nothing but stun. Fortunately for her, she gained the speed to avoid it again and my beam could only curve once thus it headed to empty space. Although she may have evaded that, my attacks would not simply end there. Holding the scythe into a striking position, I charged at her ready to guillotine her head.

"I won't let you!" she screamed as she fired. "Crimson Lightning!"

"Different Dimension Reflector!" A pair green chakra shields appeared in front of me immediately. Once the beams reached my shields, they were deflected to different directions. I smirked darkly seeing her attempts useless. Having these shields to protect me, I charged once again at her preparing to end her life. Yet, I noticed that her will to fight drastically decreased this time when I took action.

"Different Dimension…" she whispered the first two words of my attack when she achieved the speed to dodge my slash. She was beginning to get too annoying "That was…"

"Why you!" At that precise second, my foot smashed into her face hard. Somehow, I was stunned. It wasn't due to the fact that I hit her, it was more like that I was able to hit her that easily. Come to think of it, she didn't even try to escape it.

"Different Dimension…" she kept repeating those words in a lost manner. What was with this girl? It didn't matter that much to me now, I had to continue my attack. With a bit of chakra gathered to my hand in a crippling pose, I turned my hand into a fist therefore using the ability Cripple to slow her down and to deal an intense amount of pain. The demon lady may have wailed with agony but I knew she was not finished yet. Once her eyes flashed that deadly glare, there was something that was missing –the will to fight.

Knowing that my onslaught would not cease that simply, she had no other choice but to fight back. Once I flew above her preparing for another guillotine type attack, the demon lady quickly aimed her dark beams at me as I came down descending at a very high speed. However, with my reflectors engaged her attacks were virtually useless as they deflected to different directions. Her grimace only made me smirk. I had to do this right. Just when I slashed with tremendous strength hoping to hit her, the demon lady accelerated back therefore evading my assault was again in vain. However, what I saw was that her movements were drastically slower than before.

"Darkside Attack!" yelled the demon as she fired down a deep violet energy missile barrage as I charged. Even in a stream of wildfire my defense cannot be trampled with that kind of messily assault. Still engaging the enemy as I have planned, the Different Dimension Reflectors nullified every single beam that came down on me, and that only made her nervous. Ordinary people couldn't match Forbidden-sensei's techniques, and this demon was no different. Soaring in Mach 2 directly at her, I collided into her with the scythe rod. In the end, she bent down with agony while holding her stomach. I smirked confidently seeing her wounded state but I was surprised that she managed to unleash another critical attack when my back was turned.

_Damn…_

My weakness was my back and that was exactly where that lady demon hit me. I grunted as the burning sensation intensified, I shouldn't have been so careless! As I regained my composure, my activated Byakugan eye fiercely glared at her. My face showed nothing but rage when I saw her mouth move but no words were coming out. To be precise, she seemed to be in some kind of trauma where she would talk to herself for comfort. She seemed like she had seen a ghost. I did not care what she was so fascinated about; it was time to end this. Holding my weapon tighter in an attacking position, I once again charged at her.

"You have no time to mumble to yourself, demon!" Not giving her any time to react, I violently gave a horizontal slash right at her left arm. Even in a disillusioned state, she managed to create a small chakra shield thus it reduced a sufficient amount of damage and force. Despite that, it was enough to strike her downward making her completely defenseless. I did not know why she became so distracted but I didn't care, this was the perfect opportunity. Diving down to catch up with her descending speed, I readied myself for the deathblow. Once I managed to appear two feet above her, the demon lady's eyes widened with pure fear.

"No…" I heard her murmur.

"Owari," I said easily as I gathered energy for one of my deathblow attacks. "Different Dimension Ex-prominence…" At that moment, a corrupted death-like green chakra was created in my palms in a form of a massively concentrated energy ball. If I unleashed it right at her, the corrosive attack would be able to disintegrate her body into decay. Anything within the range of this dangerous beam would be turned into absolutely nothing; it was impossible for her to survive this! In the state she was in now -she was not injured but definitely confused- there was no way I could miss.

"Stop!" she screamed out loud at me. I was about to ignore her plea but something stopped me. Her red eyes… they were filled with tears. Why was she crying? How did this happen? Seeing that she was clearly weeping due to some miraculous reason, I cancelled my pursuit and deactivated my Unholy Aura. When she took a look at me again, anyone could notice that her previous anger and will to destroy was gone. She seemed calm again and that smile on her face nearly made me blush. She was beautiful, no one would deny that. However, what I wanted to know was what made her stop. As far as I knew, she had no reason to but yet she did.

"Demon lady…" I said as the two of us landed on the grass.

"Who are you?" she asked all of a sudden with a very extreme want for a response. "Tell me who you are."

"I am Shani," I said carefully, "Like you said, I am a Death Knight."

"I know you are…" she told me softly as she moved closer to me, "I can tell by your skin and hair…"

"What do you want from me?"

"Who's your demon master?" the demon lady continued on with persistence. My eyebrow raised a notch hearing her questions. "Please tell me, Shani-kun."

"I may be a Death Knight," I answered with a dark grin, "It doesn't mean that I have a demon."

"Don't lie to me!" she declared with a hint of anger. "I know you have one! No human would have Different Dimension attacks, only my brother had it!"

"Your brother?" I asked somewhat doubting her. "Who is he?"

'Shani,' a voice then came within me. My senses became alerted at once. What could Forbidden want at this time?

'What?' I questioned him in a rush, 'What do you need, sensei?'

'Ask her what her name is, Shani,' he commanded me with seriousness.

'I hear you.' "Excuse me, demon lady," I said to her with my eye not leaving her for a second, "What is your name?" She smiled at my question, she did seem nice when she wasn't in a raging mood.

"My name is Chaos, Shani-kun," What a weird name that was, I suppose all demons had names of destruction like Calamity, Forbidden and Raider. Chaos was just another term of confusion and death.

'Summon me, Shani,' ordered my demon master, 'Hurry!'

'Why?'

'She is my sister!' Forbidden said loudly. Hearing that, I nodded in acknowledgement.

"Chaos," I said catching her attention, "Someone would want to meet you." I started with another set of forbidden one handed seals that only I knew in this world, and after finishing off with the seal of the Dragon, I was ready to perform the jutsu. As I made a circle with the spearhead, I cast the required chakra to complete the attack, "Different Dimension Gate!" The circle became a dark portal that gained access to the other dimension of anything that I chose. Although Forbidden was inside my eye spiritually, calling him in the dimension that he was in before he became my spiritual partner was the way to call him here. A scythe stuck out from the portal and in a several seconds later, my sensei revealed himself in this world.

"For…" she couldn't even finish her word. I peeked over to my demon master and his left eye continued to look at Chaos with astonishment and empathy. Sister, that was what he said just now but they didn't look a bit alike, not even a bit of resemblance.

"Chaos…" Forbidden whispered not really believing this, "Is it really you? How come you look so much more… grown up?"

"Ni-chan!" she cried happily as she tackled him into an embrace taking Forbidden completely off guard. Somehow, that reminded me of Kagari. Moreover, what really made Chaos remind me of my sister was how she kissed Forbidden on the mouth while not giving him a second to object. At the same time, I remembered yesterday's kiss that Kagari gave me, she did it so shamelessly too.

"Chaos-chan," said Forbidden as he ran his hand through her hair, "How did you…"

"I thought you were dead, ni-chan!" she interrupted him with teary eyes and half sobbing.

"I wasn't… Naruto-sama saved my life. But I really thought you were dead. How did you survive anyway? Is kaa-san and otousan with you? Were they?"

"No… they have been killed and I have lived a life of shadows ever since for the past ten years or so… I have been lonely without you, ni-chan…"

"I should've protected you against that Paladin that attacked us…" Forbidden told her with guilt, "You were only three back then and I was too weak to save you…"

"Paladin?" she asked with confused eyes as she held my sensei's hand. "I thought Death Knights were the ones who killed us where Paladins tried to…"

"You were too young to remember, Chaos-chan. A Paladin was the person that attacked us. Although Paladins aren't supposed to be like that… some of them may be twisted…" I knew better than to stick around, anyone with common sense would know that they wanted some time to catch up and be alone. Without saying a word, I leaped high to the trees and waited for someone –hopefully my family- to come. Besides, I needed to rest up due to the overuse of chakra during the fight. What could I tell Father when he came here? I did not know but my Father was not an unreasonable person and either was Mother, I could count on them to make the correct judgments. My right eye stole a glimpse of the two demons -who were embracing each other- before I was too weak to stay up any longer.

_**(More First Person POV)**_

The next time that I was awake, I was back at home on my bed with Asuran, Kuroto, Yamase, and Umi in my room as if they were waiting for me to wake up. My dear cousin took me into a deep hug before Umi did and from what I could see, she was a bit jealous. She didn't need to feel that way for Yamase was just being a great relative. I kindly hugged my Hyuga relative back and it caused her to gasp not too audibly. However, since she was so close to me, I heard it perfectly clear. Next, my cousin kissed me on the right cheek, which I received quite gracefully. Seeing that I didn't have a problem with her being so gentle, I kissed her back that caused her to blush deeply. Once Yamase was done, Umi hugged me as well and also gave me a kiss on the cheek. What I noticed was that she kissed me on the left cheek although I had my hair blocking most of it. From what I can gather, she didn't mind at all and like what I did to Yamase, I kissed her back as well. This time, however, Yamase seemed displeased.

If Asuran didn't tell me it was already the afternoon of the next day, I would never have known that I rested for nearly twenty-four hours. Was I actually that drained after my battle with Chaos? More importantly, what happened to Chaos and Forbidden? What happened when I was lying on my bed unconsciously? The next words surprised me greatly when Kuroto told me that Chaos was only a young teenage demon, and the reason she looked so dangerous and mature was somehow somebody force her darkness to be overwhelm her. I didn't know too much of the details since my friends did not know much themselves but from what I heard from Asuran, Father had decided to seal Chaos in somebody who had demonic blood within. My only guess would be Kagari. I doubt that she would reject Chaos after understanding her like how I did –or at least tried to. I pitied her a lot, I really did.

The ritual was actually happening when I was still asleep, my friends and I only wished her good luck hoping that it would be successful. Mother said my seal was successful and yet that was the reason of my left eye. Nobody knew about it, not even my friends, and I intended to keep it for as long as I could. I was surprised that all of them took this so well, they did not mind Kagari having a demon from the very start. Why would they, she was a half demon from the first day that we have met. We all loved her for who she was and not because of her blood. Like Kagari, if I sank as low as disregarding other people due to different backgrounds or anything else in similar, I would be lower than a scum. No wonder these people were my friends, they were no different from Asuran, and they showed no prejudice to anyone whatsoever. Yet, only one other person in this room knew about my demon.

When this entire thing was mentioned to me, Asuran seemed to be the most worried amongst my friends, he truly was concerned for Kagari knowing the demon sealing was much preferred during the stages of a baby to a young child. I personally wonder if a girl of age ten would have any other effects but the demon was also a large part of it. If it was minor, it should be okay. In addition, I also worried about another issue… I wondered if Kagari would have the same problem as I did… to undergo physical feature changes like my left eye. My eye was the reason of this life, and being a brother, I certainly did not want my dear baby sister to go through the life I lived in. It would destroy her.

"I wonder if oni-chan is awake yet," I heard a voice from outside my room. All of us recognized that voice immediately; no one would forget Kagari's sweet, angelic voice. Knowing that it was my sister, the five of us had only one thing in mind –the ritual.

"Your brother was just tired, Kagari-chan," That was Father, "He's strong, I know he will be okay."

"I certainly do hope so," No doubt that was Mother, the anxiety in her voice was evident. "Shani-chan can be so reckless fighting a demon alone. What if he got hurt? What if he got killed? I was so worried when I found him unconscious. Shani-chan is just like you, Naruto, always doing things on his own without telling anyone… I can never leave that boy alone for one minute…" She sighed at the end where as my friends gave me a grin of amusement. After hearing such words from a mother, I couldn't blame them for finding it kind of entertaining. However, I didn't find it all out amusing.

"Hey," I greeted without feeling when my bedroom door opened and revealed my family members. "Good to see you…" Father smiled with relief, Mother's face brightened noticeably –I was sure that she was delighted- and my sister leaped on the bed immediately preparing to hug me. This time, however, I stopped her before she hit me. The face that she held showed nothing but confusion for I never rejected her embrace and touches. Yamase and the others also wondered what I was thinking about since I kept staring at Kagari trying to achieve some sort of knowledge. I wanted to know if the ritual was successful and where Chaos was sealed. However, that answer could not be found with my eyes, I didn't know where it was.

"Shani," Father spoke thus catching my attention. My response was simply a glance before focussing on my sister again so at least I showed him that I heard him. Kagari blushed immediately when she saw me observing her; any girl would if a boy did that. From the looks of my friends aside from Asuran, they had no idea what I was trying to achieve.

"What?" I asked.

"I am sure your friends told you about the ritual, right?" asked Father in a calm voice.

"Yeah…" I replied without much emotion as I leaned closer to Kagari. "Was it a success?"

"It was a success and your sister is perfectly fine. Don't worry about it, she is really okay." Those last two words made me react just a little.

"Is that so?" I questioned and suspicion was carried in my tone, "Kaa-san, where did otousan seal Chaos?"

"It's in my eye, oni-chan," Kagari replied for Mother in a neutral tone while pointing to her right eye, "Chaos said that having it in the place of our bloodline limit is the most advantageous way. Wasn't Forbidden the same thing, oni-chan?" When Forbidden-sensei's name was brought out, everyone who never heard of it became vigilant. Kagari clasped her hands to her mouth instantly while Father and Mother… they just didn't know how they should be reacting. My longed secret was suddenly taken from the shadows and revealed to the light, how was I going to explain this? If I was Asuran, even I wouldn't know what to do. I tried to ignore the subject to the best of my ability, something Kagari said before were still questions in my mind that needed to be answered.

"It's in your eye, Kagari-chan?" I asked softly as my hand reached for her face, her smooth, elegant, beautiful visage. How was it in her eye? How come it was no different from before? A deep sensation of grief soon consumed my heart after I realized that her eye was unaffected while mine remained the same or possibly even growing veins to intensify the strength of the Byakugan. How was I supposed to react? I was deeply jealous like I had never been in the ten years of my life! Envy was not supposed to be something that I should taste right now but I was! I had a demon, and she had a demon. My eye was cursed, and hers was fine. My life was ruined due to it, and she would live life normally. What could I do? I didn't know if I should curse her for always having this goodness in life while I lived in misery and darkness or congratulate her for never needing to experience such a pitiful life. Would I be able to say this, "It's fine, Kagari-chan that you don't need to suffer like a loser like me. Now, let's forget that this thing ever happened"? No of course not. I thought I was going to die of emotional torture, and I didn't even believe what I did next… I wept out loud.

Yes, I, Uzumaki Shani, wept like a girl. Call me a coward or weakling; I don't care for I felt like garbage. Indeed I was dismayed at myself for behaving so cowardly but my sadness took over my body. Somehow, I knew Father and Mother did not want to break this news to me knowing that I may react in the wrong way. Sadly enough, I did endure it in the manner that they did not intend. I was never jealous and yet I was trying to control myself from killing my dearest baby sister. Father and Mother grimaced to themselves sadly and soon left the room knowing that they could do nearly nothing to calm me down. The best way was to leave me alone until I cooled off. Kagari cried midway knowing what kind of pain I was feeling, she felt so guilty that she always had a life much brighter than mine. The others such as Kuroto, Umi, and Yamase were speechless. They wanted to know what was going on and I knew they wanted to do anything to help but what could they do if they knew nothing? Yamase and Umi wanted to do something affectionate but they knew better that it would take more than that to cure this.

"Shani-chan…" I heard Yamase whisper silently with sadness all over her tone. I felt sorry for her; she couldn't even do a thing for her favorite relative. "Can you tell… tell us what's wrong?"

"Shani-kun…" Only Umi called me Shani-kun in this place, she also contained that natural concern. "I don't… no, we don't want to see you like this… Please, tell us what's wrong… we can help you…"

"What can you humans possibly help me?" I questioned all of them darkly; I never did that ever since I have met them. Asuran seemed to understand where as Kuroto and the other two girls appeared frightened at my sudden behaviour. It seemed as if I was challenging their friendship. "You will never understand…" The last statement I so wanted to end it with a spit and it wasn't long before I laughed similar to a maniac.

"Shani…" said Asuran, "Snap out of it! You have to tell them about…"

"Silence!" I ordered rudely cutting him short and adding another maniacal cackle for I knew what he was trying to tell me. "I don't need you to tell me what I should do! How would you know how it feels like to have a demon inside yourself for ten years, Uchiha Asuran? How can you possibly imagine after all the rejection I faced due to it?"

"Shani," said Kuroto with a solemn face, "We never knew you had a demon… and we never rejected you. How could you say that?" Yamase, and Umi remained very silent while they patiently waited for my response. From the looks of things, they had an idea that a large chunk of crucial information was missing. In order to reach an understanding, I must tell them.

"You want to know why?" I questioned Kuroto with a sneer while breaking away from Kagari. My sister squeaked as she was pushed a little but luckily Asuran caught her from behind in time. She blushed adorably when she felt his warmth yet I had more to deal with than to watch their little romance. I faced the other three with an implacable face –which undoubtedly frightened them to the core. If there was a mirror to show my reflection, I would look no different than a bloodthirsty vampire who needed to feast with fresh blood. "Do you guys ever wanted to know something from me?" Yamase blinked a little hearing my question; she wondered why I would be asking this all of a sudden. Also, she caught my tone became softer.

"What do you mean, Shani-kun?" Umi asked not fully grasping the meaning of my words.

"There is nothing that we find mysterious about you, Shani," Kuroto added a bit defensive, "There is really nothing wrong with you. What are you trying to tell us?"

"Shani-kun…" Yamase whispered timidly trying to catch my attention and she did, "I always wanted to know why you cover the left side of your face with your hair. If you happen to have a demon… is it because he made your left eye go blind? If you became blind because of it… don't be sad that you did… we do not mind to have a blind friend nor do I care if you are blind… you are still my relative…"

Not giving a second thought, she embraced me again with a sob and began crying on my shoulder. I was somewhat stunned by her words and soon my own arms encircled her waist to pull her closer to myself. We didn't stay in that position for long since my body and mind decided to break it.

"Thanks…" I told Yamase in a down voice, "But I will tell you, I am not blind. I am nothing close to being blind." Kuroto and Umi recoiled slightly hearing that while Kagari and Asuran looked away in shame. My cousin –who was still in my arms- blinked obviously not getting this. She tried to look at my left face in the angle she was in but she had no luck.

"What is it then, Shani?" Kuroto demanded with impatience, "What is wrong with your left eye then?"

"Fine…" I replied easily, "I will tell you what is wrong with my eye. Set your eyes to stun…" For the first time in a while, I gently used my left hand and brushed the hair that was blocking my visage. After I finally exposed my left eye to the light, Kuroto, Umi, and Yamase swallowed hard with no words able to form from their lips. They were literally dead speechless. My left eye was not just a Byakugan glass mirror anymore, veins already started to form as if it was reaching another level. My left eye reached another skill level without me actually having the need to engage it and it would only strengthen if I did activate my bloodline limit. Moreover, with this eye on my face, I looked completely hideous… a living monstrosity.

**_AN: Yes, that is the end of that chapter, hope you all liked it and not find it too psychological for your brains to handle. I certainly wish I made it fun enough. Now, let me answer some of your questions that you maybe asking me. Before I start, to those who wanted to know more about Shino or Kakashi… I suggest that you save it and don't bother asking. This is Shani and Kagari's point of view and if they don't mention it in their words, that means they did not witness it thus it didn't happen. Kakashi is not an important character and if you love that jounin… sorry, I don't like him at all so I won't write much about him. Now, with the real deal…_**

_1Q: Why didn't Naruto show up when Shani battled Chaos?_

_1A: If he showed up, that would weaken the impact I wanted to show in the fight. I am tired of writing Naruto in action, someone else needs to be the main character for a change._

_2Q: Why didn't the kids know that Shani had a demon? That is aside from Asuran of course._

_2A: What, would you go telling your closest friend the most, most private issues that could ruin your life forever? I certainly have my own and I don't intend to tell everyone. It's just common sense._

_3Q: Is Kagari now a Death Knight or still a Paladin?_

_3A: Paladin, if not, I wouldn't be able to make the contrast between the twins with such an effect of light and dark, delight and misery etc. I am sure none of you would want that happy girl to be a lieutenant of darkness now, would you?_

_4Q: Who will Shani choose from Umi or Yamase… if he ever would choose that is..._

_4A: Both girls like him, but he obviously sees them as close sisters and possibly does not even have an idea that these two like him romantically. As he gets older, he would know since I haven't decided myself. I hate it when I make two people having equal potentials…_

**_AN: Sorry for leaving you all in a cliff, you know that my evilness in making these things had to happen sometime sooner or later. You should be glad that it wasn't the first chapter. And yes, I am still in my exam period but I was way too bored so I decided to make this chapter. Everyone, wish me luck! Now, I thank you all once again for your kind reviews, most people are becoming lazy these days in terms of reviewing… and yet some other fictions… damn hell, I know who I should really be writing for, you guys who stayed by me to the very end of my previous work. If you got any other questions, please feel free to ask me and I hope this chapter answered some of your questions. Thank you all for reading; I will post up another chapter when I have the time! Later and take care of yourselves._**


	4. Endless Torment

_**Downfall of the Light 3**_

_Chapter 4: Endless Torment_

Legend:

"…": Speech

'…': Thoughts and italic words are also thoughts

Scene Changes are listed in bolded italic brackets.

_**AN: Okay, exams are over and I survived through it. I hope that I passed my courses but hey, you guys don't need to know that. Let's move on to the actual important stuff. Yes, I finally got another chapter for you all under these stressful times. It's more than likely that my updates will become quicker due to the fact that I have Writer's Craft –an English writing course obviously- so I need to practice more. Where else could I train than here? Nowhere. Also, I know my most loyal readers would like to see more updates. Now, I am sorry that I haven't been truly able to answer your questions, so allow me to answer them right now.**_

_**1Q: Am I continuing with the second volume?**_

_1A: I will but I won't right now. I still need to figure out a way to write lemons effectively so all you perverts out there would actually drool when you read the words._

_**2Q: Why do I take so long to update?**_

_2A: Because I happen to have a life outside of the fanfiction site world. I do not obligate myself to write fictions every single hour of my life, I need to hang out, watch anime, do work, do chores, homework, read, entertain myself etc. Despite how much I would love to write for you people, I can't do it if I don't get the necessary rest and inspiration. If you force me to speed up, it would easily result in lame and low quality ideas._

_**3Q: Why am I actually willing to have Yamase as a possible pairing for Shani?**_

_3A: If I know my law correctly, in some, or maybe even a lot, you are actually allowed to marry your second cousin. Second, that means their distance of blood is further off. Neji is Hinata's cousin, not brother. Do not picture Shani is Neji, he is Naruto, really._

_**4Q: How do I make time to write this?**_

_4A: Instead of playing CS, HalfLife, Starcraft, Warcraft3, I just read on this site and write. Of course, you only do that in your spare time or you would be really screwed academically._

_**Character Profile:** Something that I created so you guys can understand some of the characters with a greater understanding. These are my OCs after all, you will need guidance –unless you have been paying a lot of attention._

_**1. Uzumaki Shani:**_

Age: 10

Gender: Male

Blood type: O

Height: 56 inches

Likes: Friends, parents, sister, music, meditation, combat, death.

Dislikes: Too many to list.

Primary Weapon: 18-inch bladed spear scythe.

Primary Bloodline Limit: Byakugan

Status: Half Demon

Demon: Forbidden

Style of Combat: Melee

Inspired from Shani Andras.

Description: More known as the one-eyed knight, he's Naruto and Hinata's first born child and the fraternal twin of his sister, Kagari. Like his father, Naruto, he is a natural Death Knight, which causes his mother to worry for him constantly. He is the perfect precedent of his father in terms of where he has no sense of fear, emotion and possibly even basic humane expressions. His dark, concealed, mysterious, intelligent, yet mature attitude attracts many girls in his life without him knowing it.

Although deep down he is a kind hearted young boy who loves his friends and family more than anything else in this world, he lacks the capability to show it. During his own spare time, the antisocial Shani places his headphones into his ears and listens to his music to meditate or get to know himself a bit more. His feelings for Umi and Yamase have been very neutral but he is beginning to feel affection from them. In battle, due to his dark mysterious nature, makes him unpredictable and as he is dangerous. His silver hair, which deliberately covers his left eye and face, conceals the fact that the appearance of it is very different.

_**2. Uzumaki Kagari:**_

Age: 10

Gender: Female

Blood Type: O

Height: 53 inches

Likes: Shani, parents, friends, Chaos, relatives, sleep, ramen, Asuran, cheering people up… there are too many to list.

Dislikes: Cocky people, cowards, people who dislike Shani for his eye, those who want to flirt with Asuran or herself, death… and much more.

Primary Weapon: 12-inch Chakra Daggersx2

Primary Bloodline: Sight of Divinity

Status: Half Demon

Demon: Chaos

Style of Combat: Range and Melee

Inspired from Cagalli Yula Attha

Description: Naruto and Hinata's second child who was born six minutes after their first born, Shani. Unlike her dark sibling, Kagari proves herself to be a light in everyone's life. She, unlike her father, is a Paladin. Not only was she delightful, exuberant, adorable, and innocent, she was accepting and never rejected anyone in her life. Smiling was her trademark and everyone who met her knew that well. Despite that, her feelings may not be always the same as the way she acted at times. In other words, she is a great actor.

Since Kagari was cheerful and strikingly beautiful for her age –with feminine curves and all- a vast majority of the males became infatuated by her natural charming nature. Kagari loves two people in her life more than anyone else, first it would be Shani and the other is Asuran. During her own time, she would always prefer to have Shani read her stories, talk with her, play games or make him take her to have ramen at Ichikaru's. During combat, Kagari's kind nature can easily influence anyone to go soft but yet her deadliness is more than anyone could imagine. Manipulation is her talent.

_**3. Hyuga Yamase:**_

Age: 10

Gender: Female

Blood Type: B

Height: 52 inches

Likes: family, relatives, school, music, caring for people, friends, affection, ice-cream, and especially Shani.

Dislikes: Umi –she is her rival to win Shani's heart, Iruka's preaching, girls that may want to charm Shani, superficial people, cocky males, uncaring types and a lot more.

Primary Weapon: None

Primary Bloodline: Byakugan

Status: Human

Demon: None

Style of Combat: Range and Melee

Inspired from the short haired girl in Maburaho that loves Shikimori Kazuki

Description: Yamase is Hyuga Neji and Katase Tenten's first daughter and also more known as Hinata's miniature version. She is timid, small, polite, caring, kind, honest, supportive but also lack a sense of self-confidence. Her care and affection for her second cousin, Uzumaki Shani, develops and grows as each year goes by. She loves Shani since he was the first male that showed her true compassion and concern for. As long as she could remember, Shani and Kagari are the best people in her life with her parents as the only exceptions.

Yamase admired Shani ever since she was a kid since he had such a high sense of maturity and skill in almost every aspect in life, she also care a lot about him but she is somewhat disappointed that Shani treats her like Kagari. She had vowed that she would make Shani realize how she feels one day but now she would make him as happy as possible. Due to her lack of courage, her true potentials in combat is not only not realized, she also could not do much when her good friend –and rival- began to admire Shani, too.

_**4. Uchiha Asuran:**_

Age: 10

Gender: Male

Blood Type: B

Height: 56 inches

Likes: Kagari, family, friends, music, training… and a lot more.

Dislikes: Too much to list but school is absolutely number one on his list.

Primary Weapon: 4 feet beam cleaver

Primary Bloodline Limit: Sharingan (second stage)

Status: Human

Demon: None.

Style of Combat: Melee

Inspired from Athrun Zala

Description: Uchiha Itachi and Ichikaru Ayame's first son and possibly only son. He is determined, strong, kind hearted, popular, supportive, handsome, but most importantly he is Shani's best friend. Unlike many other kids that are in this village, he does not have a prejudice towards anyone and accepts them as equal. However, due to the fact that he is very good looking –even better than Kuroto, Shani, and Hikaru- the girls in the class have made an Asuran fanclub and desperately want him to like them romantically. Of course, there was only one girl that he liked. Asuran, as he got older, began to develop a strong liking for his best friend's sister, Kagari.

Asuran is a shy boy when it comes to girls like any boys his age but he truly appreciates Kagari. His simple admiration for her soon turned into affection but not like he would want to admit it out loud. Between missions or when he has spare time, he practices how to make better ramen so hopefully to gain prosperity for his grandfather's ramen shop and also Kagari could have a good meal.

_**5. Forbidden Demon:**_

Age: 26

Gender: Male

Blood Type: Unknown

Height: 73 inches

Likes: Chaos, killing, combat.

Dislikes: Too many to list.

Primary Weapon: 24-inch bladed spear scythe

Primary Bloodline Limit: None

Status: Demon

Style of Combat: Melee

Inspired from Forbidden Gundam, more or less Shani Andras

Description: Shani's spiritual partner ever since Shani was three days old. Unlike Calamity, Raider, and Reaper, Forbidden is a full-fledged demon who is not only merciless, but extremely unpredictable. Like Shani, Forbidden has his green hair growing to cover his right eye but unlike his apprentice he only did it for looks. Forbidden lives on as Naruto's revenant for the sake of vengeance, he had sworn to kill the Paladin that had eliminated almost everyone in his family. Up to this day, he believes the act was unjust and brutal but ironically he loves death and killing for sheer entertainment more than anything.

However, ever since he had become Shani's sensei and reunited with his little sister, Chaos, he had changed gradually to be a great guidance for the little Death Knight. Seeing Shani is similar to looking at a mirror, and he is more than willing to do anything to help the boy understand the joys of life instead of hating it since he isn't as clueless when it came to girls. His signature attacks all start with the name "Different Dimension" for all his attacks were created in another dimension.

_**6. Chaos Demon:**_

Age: 14

Gender: Female

Blood Type: Unknown

Height: 64 inches

Likes: Brother, Kagari, and the Uzumaki Family

Dislikes: Orochimaru, the Sound, and especially Akira.

Primary Weapon: 40-inch bladed sword

Primary Bloodline Limit: None

Status: Demon

Style of Combat: Ranged or Melee

My own creation but the name came from Chaos Gundam

Description: A renegade demon who had been on the run after her family had been massacred. Believing everyone of them had been killed, Chaos sworn to take revenge as she got older. Despite that she had such hatred, this demon girl was a gentle soul who loved everyone who treated her well with respect and love. Although Orochimaru and Akira attempted to manipulate Chaos to believe that Naruto had killed her family, she was extremely grateful to Shani who helped her realize that there was still hope in this world by reuniting her with her long lost brother, Forbidden.

Shani may be her very first friend but she had found true friendship when she was sealed inside Kagari to become the little girl's guidance. Although she was not much older than Kagari, she still tries her best to be Kagari's partner and share almost anything with another. Unlike what Shani did with Forbidden, surprisingly, Chaos is frequently summoned out when the Kagari is bored or lonely, which she is more than willing to see her apprentice smile again. In battle, if anyone was wise, do not get onto her bad side for she would literally kill anyone who does.

_**7. Tayuya of the North:**_

Age: 27 (but she looks no older than 16)

Gender: Female

Blood Type: A

Height: 64 inches

Likes: Playing the flute, killing, being the leader in anything, Akira.

Dislikes: Too many to list…

Primary Weapon: Enchanting magical flute.

Secondary Weapon: Heavy trident.

Primary Bloodline Limit: None

Special Abilities: The Curse Seal (Level 2)

Status: Enhanced human

Style of Combat: Ranged

Her newer characteristic inspired from Shani Andras

Description: This short fuchsia haired girl is not someone you would want to deal with in any circumstances. Not only is she naturally rude and bossy, she has no soft side other than to her only crush, Akira. Like her other two teammates –Kidoumaru and Jiroubo, she is one of Orochimaru's living elite soldiers. In simpler terms, she is treated like a piece of equipment rather than a girl who needs human compassion. Due to the fact that she is an elite, Orochimaru expects the best performance from her therefore before any battle begins, she is ordered to take in the _Gripheptan_ to increase both her reaction time and stamina for a short period of time during combat.

However, once the drug wears off, the user will suffer an immense amount of pain until more of the medication or the actual antidote is given. Since the antidote can only be supplied within the Sound, this ensures pure loyalty without treachery. Tayuya also went through numerous of operations such as ocular implants for increased sight range, and took the improved _Gripheptan _to maintain her youth. In between missions, she practices her flute to become more feminine to charm Akira when she could. Of course, she would beat anyone else up who sees her like that.

**_AN: I know the list is not complete, but there will be more next chapter, hopefully this has been more of a help. Thank you all for those who reviewed, your words mean a lot! My gratitude goes to:_** _I aM taMi xPp, uzumakikame, Monaki-cheung, Cobra-100, Dragon Man 180, joekool, darkshaman817, RuByMoOn17, jasx316, HinatasBiggestFanboy, aznfryrice, DaveBoo1378, sephynarutocloud, uzamakikame, Gopu, D.D Designator, Binnybobarino, nonegel, Warprince2000, AnimeFan-Angel, AkiaBinZaid, Devil's Blessing, Wings of Shadows, You are so evil, violently-cheerful (I already added you on my staff, go into your account in the C2 staff area to accept it), karatefumaster, Anxious READER, and Forbidden._

_**MORE AN: This chapter will not continue with the cliffie scenario in last chapter. First of all, I find it really boring to do "Knowing the demon and acceptance" scenes. It's really overdone thus making it very cliché. Just know that his friends accepted Shani regardless or there really would be no story. To those who hoped to see the confession scene, I apologize but it really ruins my mood to write if I did attempt on it. Also, I am trying to make a Gundam Seed fanfiction, hopefully I could post it up soon, wish me luck! Let the saga continue…**_

_**(Sometime in the outskirts of the Mist village)**_

"That Mist Kage…" hissed Jiroubo as he stared down at the village of the Mist from afar with a fierce look plastered on his face.

"He's strong…" added Kidoumaru with a sneer.

"He's going down…" finished Tayuya as she accelerated herself down the slope for the invasion. As the other two males smirked, they followed their squad leader's lead. Of course, the next hour would be another period of extreme bloodshed. The entire vicinity was in screams of absolute terror, it only made the three want more.

"So many of them…" Kidoumaru spoke as he licked his lips seeing how the numbers were so great. From what he could gather, they were nothing. "Let's go!" In a flash, he took out his giant bow and arrow and unleashed a legion of metal arrows striking the spines of ten civilians. He grinned with dark delight when the people fell down.

"I'm blinded by them already…" Jiroubo stated as he lifted a boulder over his shoulders, "Eat it!" After hurling the massive rock, he quickly turned around smashing his fist into a back attacker. As of result, his head was forcefully torn off.

At the exact moment, a Mist chunnin unsheathed his katana and made a dash at the preoccupied Tayuya who was trying to summon her beasts with her Summoning Technique. Once the red hair girl detected the raging aura, she quickly leaped back not wanting her limbs to be hacked off. Her eyes soon radiated with fury, how dare a nobody interfere with her work.

"What's that… Who's that dipshit that is trying to hit me?" she questioned with a fierce glare and a sneer before pulling out her own melee weapon. Using a bit of gliding thrust, she rushed at him henceforth slicing him in half by the right shoulder to the crotch area. As the body split into two in different directions, it soon ignited into bits of flesh and blood. This was fun indeed; this killing spree certainly was a good warm up before the real deal.

After slaughtering the Mist's "defense guards", they headed straight towards the main target –the Mist Kage.

**_(Next Day in Konoha)_**

"You're not serious!" yelled Tsunade as she slammed her fist on the desk after hearing the news, "How could this have happened, Neji?"

"Calm down, Tsunade-sama," Sasuke said to help her relax. He even helped the old lady back into her chair and advised her to take a deep breath. After a few seconds of doing those procedures, the Uchiha grinned, "Feeling better?"

"I am… thank you, Sasuke-kun," said the Hokage with a smile.

"Should we get back on topic?" suggested Lee in a solemn voice.

"We should," commented Neji with a small grimace on his face. Rin only looked away with shame and guilt, she had no idea how to accept this crisis.

"What are we going to do now?" Rin spoke with emotional frustration, "The Wave country is already gone… The Mist Kage is dead and the village is also taken over… It's only a matter of time before Konoha is next!"

"Don't state the obvious, Rin," Sasuke retorted with annoyance, "We all expected this… but even so it's still hard to swallow…" In a matter of seconds, his hands formed into a tight fist that twitched with pure rage.

"With the expansion of the Sound ever since ten years ago, I don't understand why we didn't commence some kind of operation on them?" questioned Lee with a brow raised. "What we have been doing is no different than giving a villain time to establish himself with sufficient forces to dominate!"

"In other words…" said Neji not to content, "Konoha has been acting like idiots…" The simplest words were the most accurate words, Naruto and the gang undoubtedly agreed.

"Tsunade," said Rin, "Why didn't you just send us to help out the other countries? Why didn't we start anything to prevent the Sound from gaining more strength? I am certain that Orochimaru's goal is to take over the Fire Country and we have been doing nothing but sit back and watch him get stronger."

"But that's where the idea of votes of majority comes in," said Shikamaru cutting her short, "I am assuming that Tsunade-sama would not be as foolish as to allow a villain strengthen, but at the same time there are obviously some shackles that bind her from starting it."

"Since when was this a democratic society?" questioned Sakura not impressed by this. "Tsunade-sama can make anything happen with a snap of her fingers since she is the Hokage."

"No one said that it is, Sakura," commented Ino, "But even if she is the Hokage, there are things that you can't simply just do because you want to."

"I am no politician," began Shikamaru hoping he was getting to this topic correctly, "But the Hokage title is given by the highest noble people in Konoha. The elders here can decide whether the Hokage is making the appropriate actions or not and they also have the power to dismiss the position as well if Tsunade doesn't make the right choices. No one wants a Hokage that jeopardizes the people unless the civilians are willing to risk their lives to achieve a goal. The Hokage is not a one man… or woman army, there are people below her level who are also involved in keeping this place in order. A leader without his supporters is nothing."

"But the people know that the Sound has been taking over village after village, do they not?" asked Hinata not too happy to hear this truth, "Don't they realize that they are going to be next if we don't do something?"

"I seriously doubt they would do anything," stated the Death Knight with a smirk, "They are fateless cowards after all."

"Ni-chan, you gotta stop referring them as 'fateless cowards'," commented Sakura with a frown. However, Naruto's smirk only raised.

"Am I wrong though?" he questioned the entire group eyeing each one, "Trust me, I remember Tsunade brought up this subject around three years ago whether Konoha should participate in an operation involving eliminating the Sound's invasions so other countries would not need to suffer. Do you all recall that?"

"Yeah," answered Neji, "A vast majority of people refused the proposal."

"Why didn't you just go on with it, Hokage-sama?" Tenten questioned her with a frown, "You had to do what should be done!"

"Like Shikamaru-san said earlier," reasoned the Hokage somberly, "I couldn't just go on with it. Believe it or not, even civilians have an influence… an influence to make the chairman or noblemen decide whether I should continue on as the Hokage. It works in almost any noble clan, right, Hinata?" All eyes turned to the heiress at the moment, and she consented in response. "If I do things that a large majority of the civilians do not approve, even I don't know what may happen."

"Nearly all Konoha citizens are a bunch of coward fools," commented Naruto with a smirk, "They won't even bother trying to change things as long as they live in the end."

"In other words," added Sasuke, "As long as they can keep their lives, they are willing to serve any kind of leader whether it's good or bad…"

"You are not mistaken," said Neji with a sigh, "Kind of fighting a losing battle here, aren't we? Here we are trying to save the peoples' lives from misery and here they are not giving a damn about their future."

"It's more like a hopeless battle, Neji," Tenten spoke without much faith in anything. The Hyuga Anbu Captain only embraced her gently before she rested her head on his shoulders.

"But regardless if it is hopeless," stated Gaara seriously thus catching everyone's attention, "We are better off saving ourselves than try to help those who don't care. If an invasion does come here eventually, we need to know how to deal with it or we would be all killed."

"I seriously doubt the Sound will keep any of us high skilled shinobis alive knowing we do have the potential to influence and revolt," said Rin also, "When did the situation become so out of hand?"

"Ever since we didn't do anything to stop them from invading the Wave…" answered Sakura grimacing due to guilt and powerlessness.

"Or rather fateless cowards who refuse to get up on their asses to try to make the world a somewhat better place," corrected Naruto with his hand spinning a kunai before he slipped it back into his holster.

"What if we, I mean just us, went on with the operation without the people?" suggested Ino.

"You want to get us all killed?" questioned Shikamaru in a loud voice, "Are you out of your mind?"

"What do you mean, Shika?" she challenged back defensively, "Stop talking like that!"

"Although we are strong," explained Lee without any sign of foolishness, "The Sound's power is unquestionably immense. It is twelve on eight thousand. We would be overpowered for certain."

"Not to mention those three Itachi-san mentioned," added Hinata to remind everyone, "We don't even know how strong they are. But judging how Itachi-san told us before, those three would not be easy to handle and maybe even powerful enough to kill us as well."

"Are we that powerless to do anything?" Rin brought out this point.

"Let's hope not," said Tsunade, "Now, regardless, we need some first handed information on the current Mist village… or Sound village… We would need to send two people in there to go through an information gathering mission."

"Info gathering?" questioned Sasuke raising his brow with his eye opening a little.

"Wasn't our information sufficient enough?" asked Neji believing that their squad didn't do their tasks properly.

"No, it's not that," Tsunade told them, "But you went to that village to scout as Anbu members, there was no possible way you guys would enter that place without being noticed where you guys are from. What I need now are people who can enter it and not being suspected as undercovers."

"But… who can do that?" asked Hinata looking around at everyone, "None of us can go there and not get caught as Konoha spies…"

"Why not send Calamity and Raider to do it?" recommended Naruto smiling, "No one is going to know who they are if they act cool and normal. They could even do a skilled transformation and not one person if going to notice."

"Calamity-san and Raider-san?" asked Hinata a bit doubtfully, "I don't know…"

"We can't send you, Hinata-chan," said Naruto, "You are a Hyuga. I am a Death Knight and Orochimaru has all of us as his main targets here. We have to send someone who he may not be familiar with at all. Calamity and Raider would be our best bet knowing they would do the mission to the fullest if I give them it."

"Whoa," said Gaara, "You are willing to send your wife to a place like that, Naruto?" Hearing that point out loud, Hinata gave a small stare at her husband with a light pout. No husband should send out their wife like that, he was supposed to love her. After resting her head on his shoulder with the same pout practically ordering him to permit her actions, Naruto sighed knowing that it was futile to object. He simply allowed Hinata to rest on him.

"So it is settled," Tsunade spoke with authority, "Naruto, send Calamity and Raider out as soon as you can. I would like to have a report on that place in about a week."

"Roger…"

**_(Meanwhile at the Uzumaki Residence)_**

"How does onee-chan do this?" questioned the younger sister of Hinata, Hyuga Hanabi, rhetorically to herself. At the moment, the kids were there and Hinata asked her to help with the babysitting. Hanabi also asked Konohamaru, her boyfriend to help her out but he was nowhere in sight at the moment. She was certain that the two twenty-two year olds came in together but now it was Hanabi with the girls. Frankly, Hanabi loved children very much but she had to admit that it was quite energetically exhausting. Somehow, she wondered where Konohamaru went after he came in, it wasn't likely that he would escape this.

"Aunt Hanabi!" Kagari called as Umi, Yamase, Tsubasa came along, "You want to play a game?"

"What kind of game?" she asked amusedly with a smile.

"We don't want to leave you all alone, Miss Hyuga," said Umi cheerfully, "So we want to chat with you."

"Yeah… if you don't mind, Aunt Hanabi…" said Yamase timidly while Tsubasa sighed dully.

"Umi… don't you think Hanabi-san here needs to rest? She seems tired…" Tsubasa stated when she looked at the young adult Hyuga girl.

"Don't worry, I am fine," assured Hanabi smiling with shaking her hand. "But can you guys do me a small favour though?"

"What could that be?" asked Kagari willing to do anything.

"Can you look for Kono-kun and the boys for me? They seem to be missing for quite a while now…" That question made the girls eye widen significantly, even they didn't notice the boys weren't here anymore.

"Where could Shani-chan be…" Yamase whispered to herself with a blush.

"Shani-kun is so reckless," commented Umi with a flare of passion. "You guys are so unpredictable…"

"I got a bad feeling about this…" said Tsubasa rolling her eyes at Kagari's enthusiasm to find her precious oni-chan and Asuran. As Hanabi pushed her gently to hurry up, the Nara girl sighed again before picking up the pace.

**_(Currently at Shani's room)_**

"So, Shani-san," Konohamaru -who was now a jounin- spoke to the older Uzumaki twin with respect, "How do you like your aunt, Hanabi-chan?"

"Hanabi-chan?" questioned Shani with his right brow raised since his left was blocked by his silver hair, "You sure speak affection about my dear and gorgeous aunt. You two must be quite close. So, has the bed trip granted to you yet?" Asuran, Kuroto and Hikaru chuckled silently to themselves as Shani spoke with such a high level of sarcasm, they have gotten very used to it.

"Well…" the Third's grandson scratched his head with embarrassment, "Wait… how do you know any of this? A ten year old shouldn't…"

"Oh," said the Death Knight smirking, "I have my sources."

"Shani," interrupted Kuroto, "Konohamaru-san asked you a question."

"I am sure we all want to hear more about your answer," added Hikaru in consent.

"Oh yes, that. I love my aunt Hanabi just as much as I like to see Konohamaru-san's corpse." Asuran merely smirked as he drank down his soda and Hikaru soon followed. "But I am sure Hanabi was delicious in bed, wasn't she? The way of your smiles when you talk about her is just so fascinating, you don't just adore her, and she is nearly everything to you."

"You are unbelievably sharp, Shani-san," Konohamaru told him honestly but not finding his dark humour strange in any way, "It's shocking to see you this aware about other people's business." It was then that the young Death Knight opened his eye in a glaring fashion.

"If this is my aunt, it's not just anybody," corrected Shani as he took a cookie and ate it, "I really care about her although I don't really show it to her. You, Sarutobi Konohamaru, take care of her well."

"I never guessed that I would be getting lectured by a boy…" Konohamaru smiled in a friendly way showing that he was only kidding.

"It's better than having the girl herself to deal with you," said Asuran. "Mother can really pin Father down well if he does something wrong."

"How often is that?" asked Kuroto very interested at his uncle's behaviour.

"Enough, I would say that.

"I am beginning to see why Hanabi is so concerned about you, Shani," said Konohamaru seriously, "You are exceptionally cold… even worse than your father. At least he welcomes people into his life but you make people believe that they aren't loved. Hanabi is quite hurt, you know." The jounin looked at the Death Knight with a sense of understanding but yet Shani only sat there -not in a dopey way- without showing any signs of passion.

"Yeah, you got that right," said Asuran sighing, "If I can see things right, Hanabi-san might think that you don't love her as anyone."

"We all know that she is trying really hard," Hikaru stated in agreement.

"Maybe she is trying too hard…" remarked Shani along with an unreadable face.

"Shani, please," said Kuroto in a hidden command.

"What do you expect me to do?" questioned Shani having a bored tone, "I am showing limited love to my parents and they are considered the closest people I've got. How can you expect me to show another person another set of this… love? She should be happy if she doesn't get in my way and I don't see her as a nuisance."

"How can she be happy because of that?" questioned Konohamaru not getting angry, just concerned. "You should just show her that you care."

"Easier said than done, Sarutobi-sama," stated the young Death Knight with another thick layer of satire, "She knows I love her…"

"If she does know," said Hikaru, "We wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Must you always be right, Hikaru?" questioned Shani with his eye looking at his friend's face. Just when Shani wanted to say more, the door opened revealing the girls and Hanabi standing at the back. Due to her height, the others saw her perfectly fine. Asuran looked at Kagari with a slight blush since she saw him in his eating form; it was somewhat embarrassing. Kuroto stole a small glimpse at Tsubasa -who was blushing since she knew Kuroto was looking at her. Yamase and Umi frowned when they saw their admirer staring at blank space as he chewed on another cookie. It was then when Kagari decided to break the silence.

"You like that cookie, oni-chan?" the Uzumaki girl asked her big brother innocently. Hearing her voice, Shani moved his head so his right eye would be looking at them. Hanabi made a quick note that her nephew's eyes could be even icier than her cousin Neji, who would've expected a boy to have such coldness at this age.

"Good, it's very good," he replied as he swallowed the last bit of the chocolate chip snack.

"Did you know Aunt Hanabi made it for us?" she continued to tell him with a sweet smile and voice. Once the boy heard this fact, he finally made eye contact with his aunt in a somewhat shocked expression. The snack was no doubt delicious and he was surprised that Hanabi made it for them all. Noticing his look, the older Hyuga simply smiled back very kindly which he responded by a grin. What tenderness and kindness his aunt showed to her family, and yet he never complied with anything other than a smirk and walking away. Kagari was right; Hanabi did love him very much as any aunt would.

"Thank you…" he said to Hanabi with a smile, "I liked it a lot…"

"You're very welcome, Shani-kun," Hanabi told him not minding it at all along with a smile that could make anyone grin back in return. Suddenly, Hanabi heard the front door open, and that only meant the others were back from the meeting with the Hokage. The two young adults wondered if they had any good news. Konohamaru and Hanabi told the boys to get up to meet their parents and soon they headed to the living room.

"We're back, Hanabi," said Hinata as she hung her jacket in the closet while Naruto took the others from the visitors. "Thanks for dealing with all the kids. Were they too much for you today?"

"No, nee-san," Hanabi told her sister warmly, "Everyone was great, I got Kono-kun to help me or it really would've been a major hassle." In the corner of her eye, she saw everyone was heading towards the living room to pick up their respective children. "So, how was it? How did it go?"

"Naruto-kun dispatched Calamity and Raider to investigate the new taken over Mist village," explained Hinata as she led her younger sister to the kitchen to fix up drinks for everyone while Naruto took on the role as a temporary host, "I really hope that they get some results…"

"I am sure that all they will find would be dead corpses, blood, poverty, suffering and such," Hanabi stated with a hint of hopelessness.

"We have to have more faith than that, Hanabi," reasoned the older Hyuga girl smiling warmly.

"I don't think we can put that much hope, nee-san. This is the Sound we are talking about, you can never expect the truth. If Calamity-san and Raider-san does look for info, the Sound would easily say that a tsunami or a small hurricane came by that place unexpectedly and wiped out everyone there. You can only expect some lame excuse like that and no one could challenge them because no one witnessed it first hand other than the Sound." What Hanabi said made Hinata sigh depressingly, what she said was absolutely true after all.

What guarantees did they have that the Sound would not make up any lies and excuses? This was Orochimaru they were dealing with, lies and deceit was what that man did best. Hinata gritted her teeth silently to herself enraged that Konoha was so powerless.

"Just hope Calamity-san and Raider-san bring back some good news, okay?" pleaded Hinata not wanting to deal with any more depressing matters. Seeing her sister becoming somewhat agitated, Hanabi decided to pursue no further and thought of something that might just lighten up the atmosphere. However, she thought of none.

"Should we meet up with the others, nee-san?" suggested Hanabi as she helped her sister with one of the trays on the counter.

"Sure," Hinata replied as the two Hyuga girls took all the beverages and exited the kitchen towards the living room. Yet, they didn't notice that one person was listening to their conversation the entire time. He was just going to get some water but seeing the two adults in there before him, he made the choice not to enter until they were done. Moreover, he listened to their conversation unintentionally. As the two adults walked past him since he was leaning on the wall with stealth, he finally went inside but their previous words were not forgotten.

_Calamity and Raider to the Sound… Mother seemed to be quite depressed over this matter… what did those Sound bastards do this time… their ambitions appear to have no limits…_

Keeping this thought in mind, Shani banished it to the back of his mind before going to the refrigerator to take out some milk and pour it into a glass before he placed his headphones into his ears thus isolating himself with the outside world. Although everyone was in the living room, he had no intention to join them.

**_(4 days later in the backyard of the Uzumaki Residence)_**

It was the early evening of an autumn day, and it was the perfect time for Hinata and Naruto to have a few practice sessions with their children. Kagari needed to strengthen her gentle fist style taijutsu and ability to locate tenketsu where as Shani needed more assailants style stealth. From what Naruto could gather, Shani's attack rate was not good enough with his scythe, he definitely needed more agility. For obvious reasons, Kagari went with Hinata and Shani trained with Naruto for the evening.

Kagari's eyesight with the Byakugan had certainly improved for she was aiming for Hinata's pressure points with much effectiveness. Based on her speed, Kagari should be able to do the 64 strikes and Kaiten no problem but she was undoubtedly too young to learn it since it was not only chakra consuming, it was also stamina exhausting as well. When Kagari got older, Hinata would not have a problem to teach her and she was more than willing to do it. However, to substitute those two moves that she couldn't possibly learn for now, Hinata taught her the Fan of Knives ability. It was very useful when she had it as a genin, Hinata was certain that it would be very beneficial for her daughter. After some basic hand to hand combat training, Hinata moved on to bless her daughter the Fan of Knives.

Naruto decided to test his son's reflexes in a massive legion style attack. In his opinion, Tenten had much more talent than he did when it came to weapons for she could use almost anything other than a scythe. Regardless, all Naruto needed was to release a wave of weapons at Shani and his task was to defend and penetrate through his attacks. The goal was of course to increase his stamina and agility. As Naruto whipped at least eight kunais directly at Shani, the young Death Knight smirked as he destroyed all of them in one horizontal slash. In less than a second, Naruto continuously tossed wave after wave of daggers and stars to increase the difficulty. However, Shani's expression remained unchanged.

"Baka…" Shani whispered to himself as he rotated his scythe like a barrier therefore deflecting everything that came at him. Not only that, he was breaking every ninja weapon to a state that it would be useless in the future. Hinata sighed a little knowing what a waste it was to see perfectly good weapons turning into garbage in less than a second into combat. Kagari soon called her to resume on the training -which Hinata eagerly continued.

After getting bored of such easy tactics, Shani gave another upward slash thus blocking another wave of assault, and then took a sprint towards his father while dodging and evading every single weapon being thrown at him. Seeing that his suppressing attacks were penetrated without difficulty, Naruto knew his son would now be attacking him. Raising the scythe above his head, Shani slammed the blade downward heavily hoping it would hit. Unfortunately for him, Naruto simply took one step back and the blade smashed through the soil and grass.

"You are being too reckless, Shani," Naruto told his son as he unsheathed his blade to defend the next unexpected slash, "Your movement and stamina is very impressive but you are not attacking with accuracy."

"What do you mean?" questioned Shani as he dashed at his father with another swing –which Naruto blocked with the tip of his sword. It wasn't long before Shani tried with a dangerous stab that nearly rushed through Naruto's torso. To Naruto, that would be near child's play but he defended anyway and showed Shani how that move could be countered if he didn't stab correctly. It was then that they both stopped.

"See how I easily countered your attack, Shani?" explained Naruto as he walked forward with no intention to perform any sneak attack. Once the boy sensed it as well, he lowered his guard. "You are allowing the ambition of winning to cloud your judgment. Because of this rage, you are merely attacking but not necessarily doing it with precision. Instead of believing that your attack would hurt the person, think about carefully before you strike."

"Which is…" Shani said while gesturing his father to continue.

"What I am trying to say is, attack calmly and remain cool so you won't make any mistakes. Rage and anger only dulls your judgment…" At that moment, a fist hit Naruto's face. To make it worse, it was quite strong thus his lip started to bleed.

"Is that what you mean, Father?" questioned Shani with his dark smirk before looking at his fist, "Wow, having a clear mind sure helps me punch better." If Naruto could get any less serious, a rather large anger mark was on his temples. Was it just him or did Shani always took his lessons the wrong way? However, in the end, the young little Death Knight always did what was right. At that instant, Shani's face turned solemn and began to observe the skies; Naruto wondered what he was doing until he sensed it as well. He was surprised at how his son detected the presence before he did, Forbidden could be even stronger than Kyubi in some ways.

"I already know you are here," declared the mini Death Knight to the air, "Show yourselves."

"Looks like Forbidden is really doing wonders in that kid," came a voice in the middle of nowhere that caught Hinata and Kagari's attention. They didn't notice it since they were very concentrated with their own tasks. Naruto simply smirked hearing it.

"Calamity, Raider," greeted Naruto as his eyes turned teal due to his bloodline limit, "Good to see you guys back from the mission." Both revenants soon landed and the two women came to join the crowd.

"Hinata-sama," Raider stated as both of them bowed for the sake of respect, "Good evening."

"Good evening to you, too, Raider-san, Calamity-san," Hinata returned their greeting with a smile while holding Kagari's hand gently. Kagari only observed the two demonic revenants with her head tilted to the side innocently, "And please don't call me Hinata-sama, that kind of respect isn't needed here. It kind of makes me feel old…"

"I apologize." Raider replied promptly since he clearly knew the minds of women after living for Kami-sama knows how long. The Hyuga girl kindly shook it off saying it wasn't a bother at all.

"So," Naruto interrupted meaning he was trying to get to the real deal, "What did you guys find over there?" Although that question was asked, Calamity and Raider did not answer immediately. Instead, they were signaling to Naruto that the kids were still there right next to him.

"Are you sure that you want them to hear it?" Calamity asked politely to the Death Knight. After remembering Shani and Kagari were still here, Hinata quickly –as if on impulse- gently guided her children back inside to the house but of course both of them wanted an explanation. Curiosity was something that was high in them.

"Kaa-chan, I want to listen, too!" reasoned Kagari as Hinata gave her a cup of juice. Shani, on the other hand, still stared out the slide door with an unreadable face but he was definitely trying to read lips.

"That is not for a child like you to know about," justified Hinata with a smile. To make her words more effective, she cooed a little. "It doesn't concern you, okay, Kagari-chan?"

"But is it something bad?" she continued to ask her Mother like a child, "Is something bad going to happen? Is it, kaa-chan?" Kagari's concerns for people only made Hinata giggle lightly. She then patted her daughter on the head before giving her a soft kiss on the cheek.

"No, of course not, Kagari-chan," reassured the Hyuga heiress as she smiled. "You and Shani-chan find something to do now, okay? You did great today in training." That remark flattered Kagari a lot and she soon kissed her mother where as the boy displayed nothing. Not long after that, Hinata went back outside leaving the two children in the kitchen. After finishing down her cup of juice, the younger twin then looked at her big brother with a delighted face but soon fell when his expression was solemnly grim.

"What's wrong, oni-chan?" she asked as she held his hand with worry all covered in her voice.

"Just thinking about the question you asked kaa-san earlier," Shani responded making a small eye contact with her.

"Which one?"

"The one that you asked whether something bad is going to happen… I am more than certain that whatever this something is, it is likely to affect everyone here." The Uzumaki girl blinked a several times consecutively trying to understand what he was trying to say. She knew better than anyone that he was being very serious about it but she seemed to be lacking something critical.

"What do you mean by that?" she questioned him confusedly.

"You are better off not knowing, Kagari-chan," Shani replied as he began to walk towards his room, "In a world like this, knowledge is no different from fear." With that said, Shani put in the headphones again before he opened his bedroom door and entering soundlessly. Kagari stood their dumbfounded, and it wasn't long before she cursed a little but she didn't want this conversation to stop. In an immediate reaction and not thinking about anything else, she dashed from behind him and embraced Shani tightly. It was no surprise that the young Uzumaki boy stopped right at his tracks.

"Oni-chan…" she moaned in his back, "Tell me what's wrong… I don't want to see you like this…"

"It's nothing," lied Shani as he turned around to face her. His hands went around her narrow waist since she was starting to go through the stages of puberty and soon tugged her closer to himself, "Don't worry about me, okay?"

"But… I know you are concerned over something…" she argued and not long after she kissed him on the cheek. He only gave one back. "Oni-chan, please tell me…"

"Like Mother said, it does not concern you."

"How did you know then? Did they tell you and not me?"

"Mother and Father wouldn't be that unfair now, would they?" Shani asked her with his eye looking at her skillfully. In other words, he was putting faith in his sister to trust him and which she did, "I overheard something Mother and Aunt Hanabi talked about the other day…"

"Like what?" she spoke to him in the need of answers and reason, "It's serious, isn't it, Shani?"

"Quite…" he gave her the vaguest answer he could muster, "There is just this… unshakable irritation about it…"

"Share it with me, oni-chan," she commanded softly as she held him closer to her body. Being Shani, his face did not change but his heart abruptly felt warm. In a brotherly instinct, he moved his arms around her waist once more before giving her an affectionate hug. Kagari blushed lightly when she found out how loving her brother could be, and it was then when she kissed him on the lips –no tongues involved.

To any other sibling this may be weird but for these two… it was natural. Of course they loved another very much and Kagari was the first person that Shani ever trusted, it was no doubt that he treasured her more than anyone else in the family. After Shani gave a bit of force to kiss his sister, she instantly pulled back along with a thick blush, the older twin barely grinned at her endearing actions. Then he decided to kiss her on the forehead.

"Kagari," Shani called her name as she buried her face into his chest, "In order to have nothing bad happening, we have to be strong. We must work hard so no one gets hurt or feel depressed. You promise me that?"

"I will…" she said in a muffle but moving her head up and down to comply.

"It's getting a little late, I am going to bed, okay?" Hearing that, the girl immediately looked up at him with one of the most charming face he had perceived. Shani knew better than anyone that she was up to something.

"Can you read me a story first, oni-chan?" she pleaded cutely while batting her eyes. A kiss and a hug were effective tools to get what she wanted. After pecking her back on the cheek, Shani –miraculously- agreed. Taking his hand into hers, Kagari pulled her poor brother to her room without asking his consent. She giggled happily knowing that she would have another great sleep tonight where Shani was the one to provide it for her. She knew she loved her big brother with all her heart could give.

**_(Next day at the Conference Room of the Hokage's office building)_**

No one was content after hearing the report that Calamity and Raider gave Naruto last evening. Hinata expected this, Hanabi was right; the Sound did make up a fake story to cover up. A whirlpool or a natural disaster struck the Mist killing thousands and the Sound was there to give a helping hand. Hinata and the others were not that foolish to believe in such blasphemy, and who was that incredibly insane to trust those words? As far as anyone could remember, the Sound were never people who would do things like assisting countries that may be in need and Tsunade wanted to damn that bastard so badly. He was intelligent, he used the fact that the Mist was near the ocean to justify the natural phenomenon to make nearby countries believe those stories of lies. Bad came to worse for it didn't end there.

Calamity and Raider found plenty of survivors from the invasion. Also, the Sound had practically confiscated children away from their families. Yes, confiscated as if they were equipment. From what they could gather, the Sound would put all the children in boot camps or something similar to that and make them official ninjas. Undoubtedly, they didn't give those poor children a chance to decide at all. Calamity also said that some of them are now under some sort of enhanced drug called the Gripheptan that to ensure loyalty forever. What a sick sense of morality it was.

In addition, the women and men who did not have the capability to become ninjas –or useful weapons as the Orochimaru put it- they were ordered to become farmers and vassals for official Sound members. Having such numbers to produce food, the Sound was on a path to prosperity. However, this prosperity only applied to Orochimaru and the most loyal Sound soldiers and minimal amounts were given to the survivors. In other words, only first citizens of the Sounds and their descendants have a significant advantage over the ones who were not in terms of both socially and politically. The living class style was evident; it was stability or poverty. Calamity and Raider sympathized for these people and yet they couldn't do a thing to help them. Just picturing Orochimaru made their blood boil.

Unfortunately, both revenants did not manage to find the elites that Naruto told them to find. Since Naruto did not know how they looked like, it was difficult for them to indicate who they maybe since it could be anybody. Not only that, they did not get to have a first hand look on Orochimaru or any of his new subordinates; Hinata seemed disappointed hearing that. Not having the need to ask, a major proportion of this mission was to figure out how much stronger did the snake sannin's forces grew. Everyone did not blame Calamity or Raider for this result; it only showed that the Sound was very cautious about their weapons and secrets. It was rational since even Konoha had their own secrets. Having two demonic families wasn't something that Tsunade should brag about to other Kages. Overall, the search was a success and Konoha had much to repair on if anything drastic did happen.

Only one word was in everyone's minds at that moment… Kuso…

_**(Sometime later)**_

"So who could tell me what is the most effective way of using a kunai…" That was it, he couldn't take it anymore. Putting his hands on his head in an irritated fashion, Shani shifted agitatedly for two seconds before leaning on his table and glaring at the preaching Iruka who was up front. Supposedly, Iruka should be teaching but now it was no different from sermonizing. Judging from Kagari's facial expression, even she didn't appreciate this. Think about it carefully, who would? Ruffling his hair one more time with pure frustration, Shani began to emit angered grunts under his breath. What he didn't notice was that Yamase seemed worried. The Hyuga girl was sitting beside him today and kept taking secret glances at least ten times in half an hour. Umi also had been watching the Death Knight and envy was evident in her face for she was unsatisfied that Yamase got to sit next to her admirer. At the same time, she also felt concern for her good friend –who was on a verge of taking a kunai and stab himself than to listen to this garbage. To be precise, everyone seemed to be annoyed at Iruka's teaching.

Preaching… a word that no child or teenager would want to face. Why, you may ask? It was simple actually. Children and teenagers get preached all the time from people everywhere such as teachers, parents, youth leaders, pastoral staff, elders, grandparents, counselors, and much more. One of the last things that they would want to face was more preaching. Preach is teaching in a way but the method of teaching is persuasion. Recall some of your memories of someone preaching to you, what do they normally say? 'I believe this….'; 'I think this is…'; 'You should be this…'; 'I am certain that this way….' etc? It is all in their opinion and think about it closely again…. No one gives a damn if it is all "your opinion" without giving some actual evidence that "your" method is worth to try out –or possibly even effective to a degree.

Just because it is "your opinion" does not mean it is the only option, always have evidence to back up your statement. In reality, no one cares about what "you" think unless some proof is given. And for the same reason, everyone disliked Iruka's lesson.

"And that class is the end of today's lesson, have a good lunch, okay?" These words escaped Iruka's mouth forty-five minutes later, and in a mere instant the class soon gave very satisfied sighs. Kagari finally had a smile on her face and immediately approached Asuran with that heart-warming smile that he always loved. After taking his backpack, Asuran took Kagari's hand –which she blushed immediately- and guided her out of the classroom before the fanboys wanted to join her in the lunch period. The young males hurried themselves up when they saw their beautiful princess being taken away by the evil force of nature, they couldn't allow Asuran to have her all by himself, it would be immoral, it would be absurd! Not giving them another second to escape, all the fanboys who were similar to loyal slaves to Kagari immediately took action and headed towards the door. However, somebody managed to stop them before they started. Or rather… a whole group of girls.

This class was unlike any class in the entire academy. Aside from the fact that they had a teacher, good students, disciplined procedures, there was just something that other classes lacked. That would be series of fanclubs. Not only did the people who were admired popular, at the same time their lives could be a living hell. Kagari was the number one girl for any boy to have a crush on, she was strikingly gorgeous, gentle, treated everyone with the same level of respect, never bitched, smiled all the time, what more could anyone want from a girl? Simple actions were the most profound actions and even kids noticed it well. They felt appreciated, that was what made Kagari the ideal model for them to follow.

For the girls, Asuran would be their goal. Not only was Asuran the number one rookie in class –where as Shani was actually much stronger than he was- he was also very handsome. The indigo raven hair; his height; those golden orbs that could attract any girl; his exceptional skills in academics and combat; all the girls wanted to get his attention. The only girls that were not affected by Asuran's "charm" would be Umi, Yamase, Kagari and Tsubasa but the Uzumaki girl was the only one who admired him deeply more than just a friend. Moreover, Asuran admired her as well. The Uchiha boy –like Kagari- never rejected any of the girls and accepted them as friends. He talked with them from time to time so at least he would show some acknowledgement and giving them some of the attention that they wanted. However, those actions merely made the fangirls believe that they actually had a chance to win Asuran's heart where Kagari captured it long ago. This resulted in the boys envying Asuran greatly and the girls being very jealous of Kagari.

"Kagari…" called Asuran as he pulled her gently to himself as if he was protecting her, and the girl's cheeks began to show a shade of crimson a few seconds afterwards, "You hear something?" he asked her with vigilance.

"No…" she replied sheepishly still carrying that blush. _I can only hear my heartbeat…_

"Listen carefully…" he demanded softly with a solemn face. Once Kagari actually bothered to hear the sounds, she stiffened immediately when trampling footsteps were heard.

"Asuran-kun!" came a voice from one of the corridors that made the Uchiha cold sweat with fear, "Asuran-kun, where are you?"

"Oh, crap…" cursed the Uchiha as he took Kagari and hid into a small gap to conceal themselves from the crowd, "Shit… why are those girls doing here?"

"They are following you again?" asked Kagari as she moved herself a bit closer to feel his warmth.

"Yeah… where is Shani when you need him? He would be able to Blink us out of here…" Unknowing to him, the girl was pouting the entire time after he said his last statement. After a few seconds of delay, Asuran finally looked at Kagari and a frown was the only thing present.

"How could you not remember about my abilities, Asuran…" she said as she buried her head into his chest, "I have Blink, too." The Uchiha's eyes opened up in an instant.

"What are you waiting for then, Kagari? Get us out of…" Even before he finished his sentence, Asuran already found himself outside somewhere that he did not recognize, "Here…?" Where were they, Asuran thought to himself as he immediately looked around to recall if he ever been here. Soon, he realized this was the roof top of the academy but he wondered if this was a good place to hide out. The only thing he needed to fear was if the mob of fangirls would know this location. Not that it mattered though; they were safe for the time being.

"We should be okay for now," Kagari spoke catching his attention, "Asuran, you want to sit with me?"

"Yeah, sure…" he called back still with an intuition that something disastrous was going to commence. Kagari soon merely walked up to him and took his hand. In less than a few seconds, she guided him to sit at a comfortable spot and she rested her head on his shoulder while not allowing him to object. Not that he minded, he liked it after all. "Kagari?" he called telling her to look at him. The young girl responded by leveling her iris so she could see him.

"What, Asuran?" she purred peacefully.

"Thanks for saving us back there."

"Don't flatter yourself," she responded teasingly, "I was just trying to save myself. You only happened to be there."

"Ouch," Asuran stated as he placed his hand over his heart with raw sarcasm, "That hurt. I never have faced such rejection from Uzumaki Kagari before. I am so hurt…" The girl immediately giggled adorably hearing his words, no wonder why she liked him so much.

"I am only kidding, Asuran," she told him as she leaned closer again to kiss him on the cheek. In an act of instinct, the Uchiha turned away when she pulled back. Kagari knew that he was blushing since her cheeks were burning as well. "Asuran?"

"What is it, Kagari?"

"Do you like me?" That question easily made Asuran recoil. Why did she ask him that all of a sudden? Sure, they were alone, no one was in sight, she was blushing with a charm that lure any men in, his heart was beating way too quickly for its own good… he just didn't know how to answer it.

"Kagari… I…" Words were just choking at his throat making his speech useless.

"We have been friends for a very long time… Don't you like me a little bit?" Kagari pursued this topic further as she moved another inch closer. The girl did not know what had came over her but her mind and heart told her to do so. She really liked Asuran, and merely looking at him made her want to kiss him. No, it would not be a simple kiss on the cheek, she would make it passionate, real, and full of tranquility. Could it be lust, thought Kagari to herself at that moment, was that something that powered her mother and father to be intimate with another? She did not know but yet she couldn't control herself.

"Kagari… of course I like you…" he replied while heat continued to emit from his body. She looked so pretty, he told himself mentally, and that blush suited her so perfectly fine. At the same time, looking at her sweet, small, gentle lips only began to stimulate his mind into kissing it himself. It was tempting him as if it was his to claim where no one else could take it away from him. Also, Kagari would never allow another man –aside from her father and Shani- to kiss it.

"Kiss me…" she moaned softly to attract him. Asuran would not wait any longer, he moved his head slightly to the left before slowly leaning in to kiss the girl of his dreams. Kagari reacted in the same manner with a high level of anxiety, their hearts began to race but just when their skin were millimeters away from another, they heard a distressed voice. Although they wanted to ignore it and hope that person to have a nice life and hopefully survive, they soon realized it belonged to Shani.

When Shani was in trouble, it was never a good sign.

"Shani-kun…" pleaded the mob of fangirls who were searching for Asuran. The Uzumaki boy's eye twitched continuously trying to look for a way to get out of this hopeless situation.

"What do you want?" he hissed dangerously but the girls appeared to be unaffected.

"Can you tell us where Asuran-kun is? Please…" Their persistent tormented him to no end.

"Find him yourself." Shani stated having no interest to continue with this conversation.

"But you are his friend, right? Can't you help us?"

"Who the hell are you people? Do I even know you?" Despite the fact that Shani may be in the same class as these girls, his knowledge of them were lower than acquaintances. In no time, he took out his primary weapon and pointed at all of them. Did the girls react now? Yes.

"You people have exactly five seconds to get out my sight," he declared as his right eye gleamed with deadliness while he pointed the spearhead directly at one of the girl's head. "I don't know where he is nor do I have the damn intention to tell you where he may be, I will start from-"

"You look really cute when you're serious, Shani-kun," said a girl trying to persuade him to back down and give in. If Shani was any other male, he would be easily convinced and be putty in their hands. However, that comment only showed negative effects.

"You people just don't learn…" Shani hissed with amusement as he fired energy flares randomly at them. At this point, the girls screamed in terror and immediately ran off in different directions hoping to escape the Death Knight's wrath. The boy's right eye continued to show excitement as he unleashed each beam, their cries of mercy were similar to elegant music. Once the girls were far away from here, the young Death Knight sighed to himself before putting in his headphones thus letting his mind roam into the world of his meditation. Little did he know, Kagari and Asuran were watching him from the rooftop the entire time, their previous mood to kiss another was instantly forgotten when they heard those screams and yelling with fear as their source of power. It looked like they had to wait until next time…

_**(Moments later)**_

She didn't know she was looking for him. It wasn't like he would get himself into trouble, would he? Yamase couldn't fully understand why those girls suddenly wanted to look for Shani but she knew the result of it would not be good if they tried too hard. She then recalled Asuran taking Kagari out of the classroom in much of a hurry, maybe that was why the girls wanted to ask Shani knowing he was his friend. Yet, she worried about his safety since girls always want to get what they wanted by any means possible. At the same time, Yamase knew she always had faith in the young Death Knight, she could tell that he was fine but yet maybe it was that she was too anxious to see him.

Was it love or infatuation? She was certain that her affection was not like a fangirl but yet stalking her admirer like this was not something she should be too proud of doing. It was just one little peek, that wouldn't be such a big deal, would it? She was just here to see if Shani was okay, and if he was, she would leave and that would be the end and she would go back inside. After making that dedication to herself, she completely forgotten it when her eyes spotted Shani. He was sitting there on top of a tree branch staring at the horizon with his headphones in his ears. Although his back was facing her, her face was draining all the blood from the rest of her body due to blushing. He looked so handsome in her eyes and she couldn't admit it out loud to him, what should she say to her admirer, what could be said?

After few seconds of pondering, she knew that her mind was blank. If she encountered him now, she would appear like a fool and she did not want Shani to picture her as a lowlife. Who would when it came to the person they admired? Any logical person would want to show their best traits to charm others. To avoid being seen, Yamase decided to just watch him from afar but her efforts were wasted when Shani called her name out loud without needing to turn around. The Hyuga girl gave a small squeak knowing she was found easily.

"Yamase-chan," Shani said as he turned his head to the right slightly so she could see his right eye. The girl barely made eye contact for her timidity took the best of her. Regardless of how much she wanted to hide after being discovered, she suddenly felt her chin being tilted up gently thus forcing her to look at the person. Her cheeks increased another notch of red when Shani's face was inches away from hers. Yamase's lavender eyes trailed onto his lips, they seemed soft and lovable, and if she didn't have any discipline she would have taken him right there.

"Yes…?" she asked no louder than a whisper.

"Do you know how much I want to thank you?" the Death Knight suddenly told her warmly with a smile. A smile, a genuine smile, Yamase longed to see it again. However, she did not understand why he would be saying this right now. He was indeed the unpredictable one.

"What do you mean, Shani-chan?" Yamase questioned as he held her closer.

"I know you were the one that gave me this Mp3 player, Yamase-chan," Shani said in a clearer voice, "Don't lie to me, I know it is you."

"How? How do you know? You're not supposed to know… it's my secret…"

"Well," said Shani still having that considerate smile, "You make it too obvious."

"Am I that bad at hiding stuff?" she asked him sadly while her cheeks were current flushing, "But… do you like it though?"

"Yamase," he said as he embraced her. The Hyuga girl wanted to melt in his arms forever, "This thing has given me a lot of happiness during the last four years of my life. It had helped me more than you can ever imagine and what makes me even happier is that you gave it to me. My favorite relative actually cares that much about me."

"I was your only relative back then, Shani-chan," Yamase said as she giggled softly. At that moment, his eyes ventured down to her neck and the silver necklace that he gave her three years ago was still there. Shani guaranteed that she never took it over all this time. Did he feel touched? Somewhat but delightfulness suited this situation more. "Shani-chan…" she suddenly spoke when she felt the jewelry, "I still remember the day that you gave this to me on my birthday… I would never forget it…"

"We were pretty crazy back then giving that present at nighttime, weren't we?" he inquired with an amused grin. Shani was a little taken aback when she shook her head in response, "Yamase?"

"It was worth it, Shani-chan," the girl ensured sweetly when she rested her head on his shoulder, "I loved it back then and I still love it today. I am so happy that you bought it for me."

"Don't worry, it's all worth it for you." Those words easily caused her blushing to deepen. Not knowing it, Shani only made her affection for him to increase, and her heart immediately raced another pace as if she could suffer from another heart attack but an attack of love. It was now or never, she was charmed so badly by him and he was looking at her as if she could kiss him right there. When she finally had the courage to lean forward with her gentle lips ready to osculate his. Still, she was one step too late when Shani first took the initiative to kiss her forehead.

After summoning all that courage wanting to kiss her admirer, he suddenly took her by surprise. Yamase had to admit that she would always love Shani's kisses but not only did it diminish all the audacity she tried so hard to build up, it drained all the blood from her body and to her face. Lacking the sufficient amount of blood for the body to function, she simply fainted forward but luckily the boy caught her before she crashed. The Death Knight wondered what he did to make Yamase faint again, he gave a sigh before picking her up bridal style so he could get to the medical office. He smiled one last time and brushing a bang aside from her cute visage as he proceeded inside.

The moment Shani carried Yamase inside, Uchiha Umi revealed herself from behind a large tree with a face full of jealousy…

_**(2 years from now)**_

"Finally," declared Orochimaru in the forest area with the Sound troops along with Kiba and Akira, "The moment is upon us! After today, Konoha would be nothing more than a plague in our memory. Soon, Konoha would officially be its end… Do you hear me, Tsunade, its END!"

"Yes," commented Akira with a smirk, "I am kind of excited myself that we would see this pitiful village burn to the ground… after seeing Chaos have disappeared after our last sneak attack."

"Where do you think she is now?" Kiba brought up this question suddenly.

"It doesn't really matter now, Kiba," the Paladin told him with a wave of his hand, "Chaos is more than likely to be killed. Besides, she was only an experiment."

"I guess you are right…"

"Kiba," Orochimaru said to get his attention, "Where are Tayuya and the others? They should be here by now." The beast manipulator grinned to respond, the sannin wondered why he would be so confident today. Could it be that Kiba would finally have his revenge on Naruto? Orochimaru didn't care that much, all he wanted to know was where his elite soldiers were.

"They will be here shortly, Orochimaru-sama," Kiba retorted calmly, "My squad is very punctual."

"Yes, I know they are," stated Orochimaru, "And when they get here, I need to give them the final instructions before they go on their rampage. Their orders would be the same ones that I gave you. Remember, I want you to lead the initial assault and Akira to stay here with the medic squad."

"Sir." After making a salute, Kiba headed off to the other squads to give them the final orders and best of luck. It was then when the snake leader found those three by the doctors to receive their Gripheptan drug medication. Soon popping the caps open, the three elite living soldiers consumed the contents and tossed the bottle like a piece of garbage hoping mother nature would do her best to make use of it. Just when they were about to commence their mission, Orochimaru halted them.

"What is it, Orochimaru-sama?" asked Kidoumaru somewhat anxious to get things started. Jiroubo remained silent where as Tayuya seemed annoyed that she was being slowed down.

"Don't kill the male vassals, women, and children when you enter Konoha. I would need them to be useful for the Sound later on in the near future," Orochimaru told them cautiously so they would keep this in their minds, "You do remember that, don't you?"

"So I can do whatever we want with the shinobis, right?" asked Jiroubo smirking.

"Right?" Kidoumaru said snickering darkly.

"Shut up, you fools," snapped Tayuya rudely before she took off without them. Again, the girl was being her bossy self, the males did not know how they could stand her after all these years. Not even bothering to argue back, they just followed suit. Once those three were finally out of sight, the snake sannin finally paid attention to the aerial attacking squad who was standing by the entire time.

"Orochimaru-sama," reported a Sound captain as he saluted with respect, "Everyone is ready to attack at your command."

"Good," said the Sound Leader, "I want your projectile attacks to penetrate a portion of the village's defense line. In other words, provide a devastating distraction for the Three to enter the place safely. Yes, please launch in three… two… one… FIRE!" Coordinately, the launchers have catapulted –or use any kind of method to release explosive kunais over the forests to the borderline of Konoha. The snake sannin only awaited the beautiful fireworks that were to come as the Three headed towards another sector at high speed.

_**(Meanwhile at the academy)**_

He didn't know how it happened but he knew something was wrong as soon as the rain of explosives struck the first defense towers at the West Gate. In less than three seconds, the guards and five towers were obliterated thus killing everyone within it. Also, in the next thirty seconds after the initial attack, Konoha's emergency alarms rung all across town signaling an enemy had breached in. Over these years, this was the first time this alarm had went off. No questions needed to be asked about this, almost everyone began to panic –especially the academy children.

"What's going on, Iruka-sensei?" Tsubasa nearly screamed with fear but Kuroto held her securely so her worry lessened.

"Are we going to die?" Yamase whispered to Shani while holding on to him as if her life depended on it. Judging by the expression and sweat on Iruka's face, he was very worried about the current scenario nearby. However, it was his job to calm his students down and he prayed to Kami-sama that he could actually get his class back in control.

"It's okay children," he said out loud in the most persuasive way possible, "Everything is going to be alright. You all have to remain calm…" Yet, the class seemed to be the same as before, loud and unwilling to settle down. Who could blame them, they just had first hand experience on hearing a tremendous ignition. Shani, Kagari, Asuran, Kuroto, and Hikaru were not affected at all by this but concern for their loved ones were certainly plastered on their faces. It they told anyone that they were okay, Kami-sama would immediately damn them to hell.

"Shut up!" shouted Asuran angrily very unexpectedly. The volume of his voice even shocked Shani, "What good would you guys do if you keep panicking like idiots? If we want to survive, we better get our acts together and calm down!"

"But what about my mommy?" a child asked Asuran wanting to cry.

"My father is in trouble, too!" said another with equivalent amount of sadness.

"They can take care of themselves," justified Asuran at the verge of breaking down himself trying to wonder if his own grandfather and mother were okay, "They would want you to get to somewhere safe so you won't pointlessly waste your lives out there! Now get your act together so you would be more useful to the village than a sitting duck." All the students soon quieted down after experiencing Asuran's outburst, Kagari kissed him on the cheek after that and the rest of his friends gave him a pat on the back. Shani, however, continued to observe the outside. He cringed insignificantly as another explosion took place at the west end of the village.

"Come on, children," Iruka called them as he got them to get in line, "We are going to take shelter under the Hokage monument. I want everyone to get in single file and let's leave this place as soon as possible." After receiving an understanding, every class in the academy proceeded to the emergency shelters in case an invasion did happen. The main priority right now was to get the women, children and other non-shinobi members out of sight until the stage 3 counter-attack. Iruka seriously hoped that the invaders' tactics were not a blitzkrieg method or all the children and himself would be slaughtered before they reached their destination.

Elsewhere at the exact moment, Hinata and Naruto suddenly felt an immense amount of chakra signatures coming from afar. As soon as the emergency alarms started their infernal ringing, both elite shinobis knew what they sensed was not a mistake. Hinata looked worriedly at her husband as he placed down his teacup, Naruto eyes even managed to identify a familiar essence of chakra, he only wondered if his wife felt it as well.

"Hinata-chan," Naruto said to his lovely wife while holding her hand. The girl only responded by giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Do you feel it…"

"I do, Naruto-kun…" Hinata told him as she squirmed lightly due to the uncomfortable aura in the air. Saying no would make her a terrible liar.

"We have to get going, now,"

"I know… Please be careful for me…"

"You should, too, Hinata-chan," Naruto said as he kissed her on the lips delicately but Hinata pulled him in for a hot and passionate one. Not that he minded, he could sure use all the best wishes from his wife before the actual battle started. After giving her the most acceptable passionate feeling he could gather since they were at a public facility, the two couple ran out of their home and took flight to the sector that was under heavy siege. From this distance, both of them noticed a large section of it was on blazing fire.

**_(Following… at the hills of the Hokage monument)_**

"Come on, children," Iruka hurried as he guided around half the kids inside to the designated shelter, "Once you get inside, I can guarantee that you will be safe." As Asuran and Kuroto entered the shelter, Shani constantly scanned around the west area as if he should not be keeping his eyes away from it. Now he was ordered by Iruka and remain in this cowardly shelter while the other noble shinobis would be fighting for the village. The little Death Knight already figured out this was more than likely to be an invasion of the Sound, he had been training for this day for so long, and he wouldn't simply forfeit this opportunity to defend it. As Iruka guided the second last person –who was Kagari- Shani suddenly turned around refusing to enter.

"Sorry, Iruka," he told him solemnly while his eye contained that shade of teal, "I can't stay here."

"Shani, what are you talking about?" Iruka stated in disbelief, "You have to come in now."

"How can I enter this place when everyone else is fighting? This is our home and those who have power to do something should do something instead of sitting on our butts hoping that someone else would save us. A ninja… no, a person should not be living in this world like a coward if they can do something!"

"What are going to do, Shani?" the chunnin instructor said hoping that he could get some sense into the young Death Knight, "If you go out there, you will be killed! I can't let you go and that is final."

"You are in no position to decide what I should do! At least I can be more useful by going ahead and help out. All we need to do is defeat all the enemies that must be defeated!" He had wasted enough time here chatting with a coward, he should've left minutes ago already. As he generated enough chakra to outstretch his now much stronger devil wings, Shani violently flapped it and immediately gained altitude. Gaining another thrust, the Death Knight instantly turned around and took off without saying another word. It was then when Kagari came out.

"Sensei!" she shouted thus Iruka turned to face her. By the looks of her panting, it seemed like she ran out here in a hurry, "Where did oni-chan go? I thought he was with you!"

"He… Shani…" The girl did not appreciate this kind of hesitation at all. She immediately glared fiercely to make him tell her what actually happened.

"What about Shani?" she pushed on.

"He took off saying that he needs to fight…" Iruka replied sadly but Kagari did not accept his moping look.

"And you just let him?" she questioned with outrage, "How could you let my brother go out there and die? Why didn't you stop him?"

"I did, Kagari," argued the chunnin, "We can talk about this–"

"Then you didn't try hard enough, Iruka!" Kagari scolded angrily, "How could you…"

"Let's not talk about it now, Kagari," persuaded the chunnin instructor, "Let's get inside."

"I'm not going in!" the girl declared, as she slapped the chunnin's hand away, "I won't let Shani die like this… I can't let it happen!" In an instant, the girl engaged her own feathery angelic wings and reached towards the skies. Iruka stood there completely gawking at her beauty as Kagari flew towards the west end where all the commotion was. Wherever Shani was going, she was determined to follow knowing how reckless Shani could be at times during combat. Naturally, the girl prepared for the worst.

_**(Meanwhile at the South Gate)**_

"Looks like the West Gate needs more men to defend it," spoke a chunnin captain to his squad at the South Gate's patrol defense line.

"So we are needed to get there, I assume?" asked another, "Those Sound bastards… how dare they infiltrate this place believing that we would just surrender?"

"No matter what the case is, we are ordered to get there." Exactly that instant, their bodies turned ice cold with fear while a cackle was heard. They didn't know who did that but for people who had some common sense they all knew the enemy already had them. The captain couldn't take it anymore, "Show yourselves!"

"You should be worrying about yourselves before caring for others," a voice suddenly emitted from nowhere but they noticed it was a woman's.

"Your corpses would fear us, fools," another sinister voice came aback.

"What…" As if on cue, one of the watch towers incinerated into flames therefore killing everyone who was on it. The Leaf shinobis only watched helplessly as the tower collapsed on the ground while they couldn't even detect where the enemy was fully. "What the hell…"

"You fools…" Tayuya said as she appeared right in between them. Just when they finally saw the Sound girl right in the crowd, their bodies were hacked into halves at the waist killing them in one shot. As ten shinobis fell lifeless on the ground, Tayuya smirked when she spotted her other two teammates began their onslaughts on the rest of the weaklings. Watching those Konoha chunnins actual attempting to hit Kidoumaru was quite amusing, their efforts were futile. Not giving any precautions, the East Sound male launched a web from his mouth striking a chunnin from the torso. In a violent swing and then a slam, Kidoumaru easily crippled his spine with one blow.

"Hey, Jiroubo," Kidoumaru called grinning, "Leave this sector to Tayuya and I, you can take the ones on the far end so you can block the rest of the Leaf's reinforcements."

"Don't worry about it," Jiroubo said back as he smashed another poor man in the face, "I will team with Tayuya."

"I thought I was doing you a favour for aiding that bitch for you."

"I heard that!" Tayuya shouted angrily with a twitching brow. How did he dare to call her a bitch!

"Yeah, thanks," Jiroubo said back before heading towards another sector leaving the other two here. At that moment, a watch tower began to fire at Kidoumaru. Giving a smirk, the East Sound nin licked his lips before commencing his attack. Taking out an arrow while leaping back to evade, he suddenly jumped high to the air reaching the same height as the attackers in the tower.

"Destroy!" yelled Kidoumaru as he pulled his bow ready to fire his arrow. In an unexpected turn of events, Kidoumaru's face was struck heavily by a kick. The attacker was no other than Shani. As of result by this deadly blow, the Sound-nin descended quickly to the ground making a heavy impact as he hit bottom. Seeing someone was actually trying to defend their target, Tayuya snickered as she jumped down to the support of the tower.

Without hesitation, she pulled her trident back before slashing the support stands off thus the tower ended up collapsing thus the Death Knight's efforts were wasted. Shani didn't even realize Tayuya until now, just when he tried to blast her with a beam she quickly ran off with the Death Knight chasing her in flight. What he didn't notice was Kidoumaru got up from the ground –he was indeed enraged.

"Why you…" the arachnid male yelled hoarsely as he readied himself to release his arrow, "Eliminate!" Once the spider freak's angering aura was detected by the Death Knight, Shani immediately shifted his body making the attack a complete miss but Kidoumaru was not someone who would simply give up. To be accurate, neither was Tayuya.

"Damn those bastards…" cursed Shani as he saw Tayuya coming at him at the corner of his eye.

"Who the hell is this kid?" questioned Tayuya as she performed a downward slash with her trident but only to be defended with a scythe. Once both of them saw an energy arrow being fired right at them, both warriors broke out of their weapon clash to evade.

"I don't know, Tayuya," answered Kidoumaru in a frustrated voice, "But he knows how to fly… how annoying…" A ranged and a close range fighter, the Death Knight clearly knew the odds were against him. The two were not your natural shinobis if they had the capability to wipe out over thirty chunnins in a several minutes, Shani soon decided to take out Kidoumaru first. Gathering some chakra into his scythe, he called forth a wave of Chain Lightning downward. However, when Kidoumaru made an effortless twist to the left, Shani knew his attack was just a dead miss but the East nin fired back only to be avoided again.

"You missed, you baka…" taunted the North nin snickering. The spider boy simply ignored her as he wisely moved himself into position. Attempting to seize this second perfect chance, Kidoumaru knew this was a great time to fight back. Just when he tried to aim accurately, Tayuya was only a several feet in front of him.

"Get out of the way, Tayuya!" grunted the spider boy with annoyance.

"You're the one who's in the way!" scolded the fuchsia haired girl fiercely as she unleashed two concentrated beams at Shani with accuracy. Tilting just a bit, the scythe warrior escaped it but not before giving a counter attack with his own Mana Burns. It was predictable, as Tayuya would say, and as of result she slashed all three beams to nullify it. The girl smirked evilly when she saw the annoyed grimace on his face.

"She's good…" Shani said to himself quietly while he flew back giving off another wave of Shadow Strikes as suppressing fire as the opposing forces charged at him preparing to strike. As Tayuya slashed a several poison chakra daggers to create an opening, Kidoumaru promptly seized this opportunity to strike.

Since Shani didn't expect such a counter, he had no other choice but to prepare himself to take the hit. Despite his readiness, it didn't mean that it didn't hurt. As far as he was concerned, an arrow forcefully tearing his muscles off was not something that was considered soothing. Just as Tayuya quickly fired another chakra beam from her trident, the Death Knight –without even considering any other possibilities- evaded using Blink.

Coming from nowhere at all, Shani's back suddenly was hit by a boulder sized bomb. At the next second, it ignited with ferocious outcomes therefore causing the Death Knight to falter in the air miserably. No questions were needed here, Kidoumaru and Tayuya both had great faith that Jiroubo was the source of their assistance. Not wanting their teammate's secret effort to be in vain, the remaining Sound-nins immediately took action.

_These bastards…_

In a swift movement, Tayuya jumped up to the air with her trident raised over her head thus giving Shani a tremendous swipe at the chest area. Luckily the Death Knight turned slightly to block the assault with his scythe's blade but yet the stamina and energy put into it was more than sufficient to cause Shani to fall down quicker. The amount of force was indeed great, he could not imagine such strength came from just one strike. In other words, this was a simple detection that Tayuya had much secret abilities in terms of abilities and strength. Shani was certain that Kidoumaru was no different. Although Shani wanted to recoil and commence a counter, he found it completely impossible when the arachnid freak was suddenly above him with a snicker. Talk about speed and power.

"It's the end…" Kidoumaru hissed darkly when he opened his mouth while charging for a poison venom web assault. Shani's eye opened with stun when the Byakugan read the intensity of the chakra within that one single attack. Judging from the strength of it, he would not even survive. He didn't know who these people were, however, it did not take a genius to figure out they were abnormal. Not even realizing what Kidoumaru had done, Shani finally witnessed him fire the web directly into his face. It was hopeless; he couldn't dodge it.

"Oni-chan!" yelled a female voice mysteriously as she came right in between Shani along with a dagger to intercept. Tayuya and Kidoumaru were stunned seeing that the poison attack completely deflected with ease but even more stunned when the new challenger immediately confronted them with a wildfire of Chain and Forked Lightning beams.

Quickly gaining some agility from their bodies, Kidoumaru shifted aside while Tayuya jumped high henceforth saving themselves from being electrocuted.

"What…" cursed Kidoumaru angrily with a cringing face.

"…" the Sound girl only chose to be silent while observing the new enemy.

"An angel?" Jiroubo asked with slight awe seeing such beautiful wings on the girl.

"Kagari…" That was all Shani could say, he was still too shocked that his life would've been over if she didn't intervene. Then it hit him, why was she here? She should be in the shelters for heaven's sake! Why did she risk her life in being here? Kagari remained absolutely serious as she prepared herself for the worst possibke outcome, with her Sight of Divinity it wasn't hard to find out how powerful the Sound nins may be. However, this was not the time to ponder when the enraged aura of the East Sound nin violently erupted in similar to a volcano.

"Damn it…" he shouted with raw fury to Kagari, "What the hell are you!" In that instant, he engaged without Tayuya and went ahead. The girl –on the other hand- seemed very amused by Kagari's entrance.

"A devil and an angel… looks like it's going to be fun…" she said to herself before taking charge as well.

"I don't care who you are… But you die as well!"

_**AN: The Naruto and Hinata VS Kiba will be out next chapter, please be patient! Yes, this battle is inspired from the battle of Orb in episode 38 of Gundam Seed where Raider Gundam and Forbidden Gundam engaged Freedom Gundam. So, please don't sue! If you got any questions for me, feel free to ask and I hope to answer some of them in a review just in case I cannot update soon enough. If this thing is not updated after two weeks or so, check this stories' review section to see if I replied. Thank you all for reading my fiction up until now, your consistent efforts do make my day believe it or not. Take care of yourselves out there!**_


	5. Destruction Inaugurates

_**Downfall of the Light 3**_

_**Chapter 5: Destruction Inaugurates**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it's that simple. Do you own Naruto?

_Legend:_

"…": Speech

'…': Thoughts, other italic words are also within this category

Scene Changes are listed in bolded italic brackets.

**_AN: Before I start my mumbo jumbo, there is one thing I want to tell you… I am getting tired of writing this fiction. Yes, I am getting weak, out of ideas, and just simply worn out. I have discussed this with Crimson Strike personally and he suggests for me to write another fiction within Naruto or Seed. In other words, make another genre of fiction such as humour, angst or whatnot. If it helps me think better, I will do it._**

**_However, if you guys really want me to stick with this fiction until the bitter end, please tell me directly that is how you feel. For obvious reasons, if I start another fiction, I will not be able to update this one. I do not want to upset any of you loyal readers because making this fiction is really fun and I don't want to ruin your hopes to see a new chapter each time I post the newest one. I know this is cheesy, but with your support, there is no way I could cower and forfeit or give up. At the same time, if you simply don't care, tell me that too so I will be more comfortable leaving this fiction for a while. Thanks for reading up until now everyone._**

**_To those who reviewed, you know who you are and you have my most sincere gratitude and thanks. I dedicate this chapter to all of you! Please enjoy! _**

_Character Profile: This is for your advantage so you can grasp my OCs and new forged personalities better._

_**1. Kidoumaru of the East:**_

Age: 27 (Looks no older than 15 to 16)

Gender: Male

Height: 68 inches

Blood Type: B

Likes: Killing, archery, video games

Dislikes: Tayuya, and the heartless doctors, and possibly a lot more

Primary Weapon: 3 feet high bow, Web Spherical Breaker (Not used in this chapter)

Status: Enhanced Human

Gripheptan implant stage: 4

Special Abilities: Curse Seal (Level 2)

Style of Combat: Ranged (fighting style also inspired from Raider Gundam)

New forged personality inspired from Crot/Clotho Buer from Gundam Seed

Description: Kidoumaru, like Tayuya and Jiroubo, is one of the three elite ninjas who serve as Orochimaru's right hand man. His appearance may look like a regular teenager -although he is already 27- but the fact that he has six arms instead of two makes him extremely intimidating and freaky. Naturally looking like a spider, it is no surprise that he has many capabilities that represent an arachnid such as web nets, web throws, poison cobwebs, and much more. In addition, since he is an elite soldier, Orochimaru had ordered him to consume the Gripheptan drug before entering any combat so his eternal loyalty would remain at the sound while his combat capabilities would forcefully increase to raise his chances of survival in battle. Despite how much he hates it, he has no choice. Furthermore, since he was someone that was light, he had mastered the training of manipulating his own chakra to gain flying capabilities.

Kidoumaru, in his spare time, enjoys all sorts of entertainment such as archery or playing video games. Because of this continuous influence, he pictures killing no different than a game. Also, since he is a loud and cocky person, he often yells out destructive words in battle to intimidate or simply doing it for fun. His comrades and his Captain, Kiba, may find his rude screeches annoying but if it brought him strength, they would allow it to slide. Of course, Tayuya barely agreed. Due to his high sense of confidence, Kidoumaru fears absolutely nothing and will bash his way to achieve his goal to success.

_**2. Jiroubo of the South**_

Age: 27 (He is also someone who looks no younger than 15)

Gender: Male

Height: 70 inches

Blood Type: B Negative

Likes: Destruction, teamwork, reading

Dislikes: Tayuya, the medical doctors who are responsible for the Gripheptan and many others

Status: Enhanced Human

Primary Weapon: None

Gripheptan implant stage: 3

Special Abilities: Curse Seal (Level 2)

Style of Combat: Melee and Ranged

New forged personality inspired from Orga Sabnak in Gundam Seed

Description: It may not look like it but Jiroubo is actually the leader amongst the three if Kiba is not there to lead them. The reason was that Tayuya frequently preferred to work alone and isolate herself from them, and Kidoumaru was too loud and reckless to guide the group safely. Jiroubo is an effective leader at times but ironically he may just be as careless as his good friend, Kidoumaru. Normally quiet and collected, he is nothing close to possessing the silence that Tayuya had. At the same time, ever since he was given this job without a choice to reject, he had no other decision but to promote teamwork -which Kidoumaru had no arguments on but Tayuya certainly did. Since he was the heaviest one amongst the three, Jiroubo had a problem with flight in terms of not able to maintain it for long.

In between missions, Jiroubo preferred to read his stack of paper-pack novels to refresh his mind. Amongst the Three, he is considered the most normal since he was not killing obsessed or a girl who appreciated isolation more than anything else, Jiroubo did not know if he should view it as a compliment. Nonetheless, he is someone who likes to take things seriously but at times he can be very careless.

_**3. Uchiha Umi**_

Age: 12

Gender: Female

Height: 61 inches

Blood Type: O

Likes: cooking, parents, brother, friends, chocolate, ninjutsu arts, kisses, and especially Shani

Dislikes: bad food, mean bullies, Tsubasa hogging her brother, Kagari hogging Shani, and Yamase trying to get Shani's attention instead giving his full attention to her.

Primary Weapon: Beam Glaive

Status: Human

Bloodline Limit: Sharingan (Level 2)

Style of Combat: Melee

Umi is my absolute own creation, but her attitude is like Rin and Sakura, and possibly even Hinata.

Description: Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura's second child, and younger twin to her brother, Kuroto. Umi is naturally a sweet, loving, adorable, and considerate and her qualities can go on for ages. Miraculously, she has developed a liking to cook -very much like Hinata and Rin. Umi is very proud of herself that her father, Sasuke, enjoys her cooking more than his wife's. Was Sakura jealous? No, she was so delighted to see her little girl growing up nicely for her future husband but of course that was after punching Sasuke a several times in head. Umi had a liking for Shani ever since she was really young. Like any other girl, she wondered why Shani was so mysterious, dark, wise, quiet, cold, but at the same time extremely gentle when she was alone with him. Umi considers Shani as her best male friend who she can always rely on when she needs help, and very fortunately for her, Shani has been someone who aids her frequently and willingly allow their friendship to grow.

She is in love with Shani and truly accepts him even though his left eye permanently activates the Byakugan thus making him look completely hideous. Even after her knowledge of him having a demon, she could care less about it since she believes that Shani is Shani no matter what. Like any girl completely wild in her emotions and affections, Umi wants Shani to see her more than a sister to a lover. She tries desperately hard to gain his affection yet she gains no result. When she figured out Yamase likes Shani like she does, they became rivals beneath the surface yet they are close friends. At the same time, she disapproves her brother to be with Tsubasa since they are eternal rivals but nowadays she is more lenient ever since Shani became closer to her.

_**4. Uchiha Kuroto**_

Age: 12

Gender: Male

Height: 64 inches

Blood Type: O

Likes: training, combat, sister, friends, food in general (but nothing nasty or bitter), girls, arts, and Tsubasa

Dislikes: Too much to list

Primary Weapon: Beam Katana

Status: Human

Bloodline Limit: Sharingan (Level 2)

Style of Combat: Melee

Kuroto's name originated from Crot/Clotho Buer. Attitude inspired more or less from Sasuke.

Description: Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura's first born child, and the unofficial heir of the Uchiha clan. Unlike Umi, Kuroto may be ambitious, youthful, cheerful, understanding, kind and all but he suffers from the pressure from Sasuke to be superior to others because he is the first born. Kuroto does not mind being better as long as he is not cocky but this attitude of his resulted in having a silent competition with his good friend, Shani. These two nearly compete at everything from training, academics, doing somersaults on the jungle gym, art, running, music, and such except other pointless things that either of them had an interest in. Kuroto even wanted to challenge Shani to have a flirtation contest when they were a tad bit younger but he got blown away when the Uzumaki had no interest of competing over something like that. In other words, these two were eternal rivals but very good friends.

Kuroto, like any other boys, likes cute girls and treats them with utmost respect and friendship. Although he had a crush on Kagari before, Kuroto realizes that someone else has been watching him and admiring him, that obviously was Ino's daughter Tsubasa, and Umi's first rival. Kuroto believes that eventually he would even learn to love Tsubasa. Despite Umi not agreeing with this closer friendship, Kuroto is still grateful that Shani stepped in their sibling conflict and gradually made Umi accept it by making himself available to be a friend with his sister. Kuroto dedicated himself to be like Shani, mature and collected.

**_(Story officially begins! In the Sound's Temporary headquarters in the outskirts of Konoha)_**

"Jiroubo, Tayuya, Kidoumaru," called Akira on the radio as the medic squadron prepared for their orders at the encampment in the environs of Konoha, "Do you guys read me?" After asking that question, the only response he heard from the other end were clash of weapons, explosions, beam flares, grunts, but no one was actually responding. The Paladin did not know what was going on but he knew this was not pleasant news. "Can you guys even hear me?"

"What?" a voice finally shouted from the radio. From what Akira could gather, that was Jiroubo and he was not showing one speck of calmness. He seemed annoyed. If Akira heard more clearly, he could have sworn he heard Tayuya swearing from the background, it seemed like that those three were having some difficulty after all.

"Are you guys at the South Gate yet?" questioned the Paladin seriously while not even asking of their well being, "You should be there by now."

"We are there already!" yelled the South Sound nin loudly while his nature was usually silent, "Damn it!" Next, another explosion was heard but it certainly sounded as if it was from a far distance. After that ruckus, another set of electric bolts and discharges became evident to his ears. The blond even needed to jerk the radio away from his eardrums or he would go deaf. Now, it was then when Akira started to worry.

"What the hell is happening over there, Jiroubo?" Just when Akira was hoping for an answer, the radio signal got cut off midway. Whatever was commencing in the South Gate wasn't showing much promise for the Sound. Despite how much Akira wanted to leave his own post to assist them, Orochimaru would not be pleased if he messed up the formation at this stage. He seriously hoped that the Three could deal with whatever was holding them back so far, Akira wished he had faith in them.

They were strong, no enemies have ever defeated them before ever since Sakon had been killed during a mission over ten years ago. These Konoha weaklings should not stand a chance against them. Yet his intuitions somehow lead him to assume that these obstacles were not as simple as they may seem to be. After all, this was a demon village and the chances of battling a demon were quite high. Akira only prayed that things would not get too out of hand. He soon decided to have a thorough mission report from them when they return.

_**(Meanwhile)**_

"Damn it…" fussed Kidoumaru as he glided back while still glaring fiercely at Kagari, "What the hell are you?" Much to his annoyance, the Uzumaki girl could've cared less at his fuming words. In pure rage, Kidoumaru descended with speed while yelling with his hand aiming at Kagari as he continuously launched out webs from his wrists. The girl soon swiftly moved from left to right as she evaded all the attacks by a mere inch, and once the East Sound nin dived past Kagari the girl quickly flew upward trying to aim accurately. However, Kidoumaru beat her to it.

Having no other choice, Kagari generated a shield with her left palm as she used her right hand reached for her double bladed daggers that were equipped on her waist belt. As soon as Kidoumaru's onslaught was deflected, Kagari soon rushed down to engage him in a melee combat. Knowing his own fighting capabilities, the arachnid shinobi quickly glided back before the weapons seared through into his flesh. Gritting his teeth crossly, Kidoumaru then drew back on his bow before unleashing another arrow at the speed of a crossbow.

Noticing how his sister was so eager to fight, Shani immediately took out his own melee weapon before taking a quick glide at Tayuya. Already attacking in a fierce slash, Shani generated chakra into his blade making it as powerful as a beam cutter hopefully it would be more effective in the long run. However, once he dived down and assailed, Tayuya jumped backward making the attack a dead miss. Shani glared angrily where as the Sound girl merely grinned with malice delight.

"Kagari," called Shani as his target glided off so he had some time to actually talk without being interrupted, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Once she heard her brother actually speaking to her, Kagari leaped forward as another web came out from Kidoumaru's wrist attempting to make a web throw, "Is that all the thanks I get for saving you back there, Shani?" the Uzumaki girl said back very disappointedly.

"You should be at that place with Iruka and the others!" yelled the older twin not knowing if he should be enraged on delighted to see his sister here. If she was trying to be courageous, she had a long way to go, "You could be killed if you are out here!"

"Like you won't?" Kagari challenged his logic immediately, which made Shani grimace. Suddenly, they finally took a glimpse at Tayuya, who was charging up for a projectile assault. Emitting a creepy battle cry at the openings of her lips, the Sound girl instantly fired without considering anything. With a slight magnetic force, the beam curved midway thus it would hit Kagari as well. Having both the Byakugan and Unholy Sight, Kagari and Shani clearly knew the concentration of her attack. Not pondering any second thoughts, both Uzumaki twins reached higher flight therefore the beam missed their feet by less than an inch.

"Kill!" screamed Kidoumaru as he charged down recklessly and also shooting his webs and arrows in the same fashion. Moving to the front, back, side, up, down, Kagari miraculously managed to dodge and escape every single one of his moves. After a ferocious lunge and soaring up again, Kidoumaru took altitude and thrust to boost him into the air. Shani flinched finally knowing these two Sound nins could manipulate chakra as well to gain flight.

_Damn_…

"I don't care who you are," declared the arachnid male to Kagari with a snicker before unleashing another set of wildfire, "But you die as well!" Making a bitterly glare, the angelic girl swiftly flew above before taking charge at him trying to make a stab. Meanwhile, Shani took out four daggers from his holster and soon whipped them hard at Tayuya two at a time. Disappointing to Shani, Tayuya, in perfect coordination, moved her trident in the precise location with ease thus Shani's weapons proved useless. The girl only smirked arrogantly and the demon male only tried harder. Obviously, this only entertained Tayuya more.

"Another one?" asked Jiroubo from afar to himself in a rhetorical voice while smirking, "What is that thing?" In an immediate impulse, he grabbed a fallen support log from a defence tower and threw it forcefully at Kagari or Shani hoping it would hit them. Since Kidoumaru was after the girl, the log flashed right by him as he charged. If he didn't slow his movements down, he would've been hit cleanly -more or less the facial area.

"Jiroubo!" the spider ninja scolded with his head looking very annoyed. From Shani's view, his brown eyes were glinting savagely, "You jerk!" Not listening to his friend's complaints, Jiroubo only took a boulder this time before tossing it at Shani while Tayuya was preparing to perform a slash on the demon devil. Like Kidoumaru, Tayuya halted her actions therefore the rock also missed her by a several inches. Yet, unlike the arachnid shinobi, she merely remained silent but her expression appeared quite vapid and nonchalant.

'_A third one?'_ Kagari cringed at that thought; she thought two was already enough. To make the matters worse, this last person was so ugly and unappealing.

"What are you guys playing up there?" Jiroubo spoke in utmost amusement before whipping several series of kunais and shurikens. Shani and Kagari grimaced before diving down to evade, but however, Kidoumaru was enraged.

"Don't interfere, Jiroubo!" he scolded again loudly.

"Let him," insisted Tayuya with dark serenity, "If he is being a nuisance, he will get himself killed first." After a light sinister cackle, Tayuya glided with her trident in an attacking pose before charging at Shani again. However, the Death Knight would not allow himself to be in a stage of disadvantage, once Tayuya fired another beam -which he deflected with his extreme dense demon wings in similar to his Different Dimension Reflector- Shani instantly commenced his own counter attack.

"Mana Burn!" the young warrior shouted while bursting his rays rapidly downward. Tayuya may have deflected all of them with a quick spin of her trident but it was then when Shani fired again but this time it was a vastly stronger energies of the Different Dimension Flare in a wave. Gasping at the quick rate, the Sound girl defended herself with the best defense she could muster and intercepted it all with the blade of her weapon. Even so, the force was so powerful that she was pushed back by it.

_Crap…_

Just when Tayuya wanted to thrust out and kill Shani for good, the Death Knight suddenly appeared right in front of her, and his one eye look gave her the chills. Simply floating in the air completely frozen, Shani obviously did not hesitate to deliver a punch right at her cheek. In a natural reaction, Tayuya moved her head away from the impact but the devil's onslaught did not simply end like that.

Angrily, Shani slammed his fist into her face with pure fury and hate, then he pulled his left hand back before giving a massive punch into her chest hopefully to break her ribs. Lastly, he raised a knee and bashed into her gut heavily, and Tayuya only vomited out her blood as of result. Although she was already in pain and more or less helpless, Shani refused to stop. In a spin, his foot smashed into her face thus sending the North nin descending down rapidly before making a devastating collision with Mother Earth.

Jiroubo and Kidoumaru's eyes showed nothing but extreme shock, but it wasn't long before the arachnid male gritted his teeth flashing immense rage, "How dare you!" he screamed while he charged up for his own beam arrows before unleashing them frenziedly at the Death Knight. This was when Kagari flew in between with her Divine Shield activated thus his attacks were all nullified. Taking out her twin daggers from her hips, Kagari dived down to the ground to engage Kidoumaru in a close range combat.

"Bloodlust!" cried Kagari when she generated and focussed the chakra onto herself. In a mere second, Kidoumaru clearly noticed that her speed had increased drastically. Not wanting her to get any closer, he fired frantically but all it did was scrape off three white feathers on her wings. Gaining more thrust in her rushing collision, Kagari easily kicked Kidoumaru in the face with crushing force therefore he skyrocketed into the air.

Using Blink, the Uzumaki girl suddenly emerged herself above her enemy with her daggers powered by a green chakra. Due to the pain, Kidoumaru could not do a thing as the beamed dagger stabbed into his chest. He wanted to scream but that was when he realized that Kagari was pushing her weight down on him so they would make another crash to the ground. Moreover, since he was the one on the bottom, it was clear who would suffer from the blow. Within three seconds, Kidoumaru experienced another set of agony.

"You bastards!" shouted the chubby Sound nin from a short distance as he gathered energy to unleash his own beam attacks. In the corner of her eye, fortunately Kagari saw it thus she flew again to evade but that only gave her previous opponent enough time to recover himself. The expression of hate plastered all over his face.

"Let's go! Hate!" screamed the spider archer insanely as he pulled his bow hard therefore the arrow he fired out had equal or greater speed than his zeal. Kagari did not foresee this comeback and she knew she had no agility to evade. Although the arrow did not penetrate through any critical parts of her body, it did the task fine at wounding her when it pierced through the side her left thigh. Letting out a painful cry, Kidoumaru and Jiroubo both smirked darkly knowing their enemy was finally slowing down. At this moment, Tayuya stood back up on her feet before ascending to the sky and rushing madly at Shani.

"Nobody does that to me!" Tayuya hissed with words flooding hatred. Her eyes were swimming with rage as if the darkest demons consumed her humanity. The moment she was close, the girl slashed Shani with ferocious strength. However, to her dismay, the Death Knight used his wings to take the attack fully. Tayuya began to hate those wings, not only did they gave him flying capabilities, it also served as a shield that she may not be able to destroy and trample through. In addition, if she couldn't penetrate it, she couldn't kill him.

In her absolute anger and aggression, she unexpectedly took out one of her knives and jammed it into his chest where an opening was. Because Shani did not think he needed to activate his reflectors before she commenced her second attack, the knife plowed cleanly into his flesh. As of result, his defenses dropped drastically.

"I got you…" the girl whispered darkly with much amusement, "Later." Raising her trident above her head, the girl prepared herself to guillotine her victim. He was indeed strong to last this long against her, Tayuya would give him that much but now it was the end. Once she started to commence the slam, Kagari intervened once again.

"Chain Lightning!" cried Kagari with lightning rays blasting from her daggers. Despite that the electric assault missed all of Tayuya's vital organs and body parts, it did, however, strike her hands. After receiving a deadly shock, the Sound girl only reacted with deeper hate for those two. This battle would last much longer than expected. To make things worse than it seemed, it appeared these two were evenly matched.

Despite that Kagari may have stopped Tayuya this time, the Sound girl smirked as she suddenly made a lunge at the Death Knight with a damaging kick to the face. Shani naturally grunted in pain while he began to fall downward and Tayuya only seized this perfect chance to her own advantage. Charging up for another blast, she violently cast down at the defenseless Shani. Once an ignition was produced by the beam, the girl's eyes widened when she saw pieces of wood scattering around, this must've been a quick replacement technique.

Tayuya did not have time to simply stare with shock, when she heard a spine-chilling cry coming from above, she knew it must be the Death Knight's. Slashing with tremendous force with his scythe, the Sound girl screamed out loud as the blade seamed through her flesh. Since Shani gathered energy around his weapon, he did not cut her in half but the burning sensation was still present. Even moving appeared difficult now while enduring the pain, both sides knew this fight would only end until both sides were killed.

_**(Moments before)**_

"Kaiten!" declared Neji as his body created an ultimate defensive shield with his concentrated palm and spun ferociously when three Sound chunnins approached him with katanas in their hand. After one violent spin, all three of them were blown away and crashed at different locations. The first one had his spine broken when his back forcefully had a great relationship with a rock, the second man got both his leg and arm dislocated as he bashed through a tree branch, and the last one was sliced in half by Tenten in mid air. Neji did not like these numbers at all, it was practically just the important people against the rest of the Sound since most of the Leaf's ninjas were killed in the initial shower of fire.

"It's really not fun killing a bunch of nobodies," said Sasuke while lowering himself to evade before jamming his foot into a man's private area and crushing it mid way. Sakura flinched noticeably when she found out what kind of move her husband made, to the very least it did kill the enemy in a mere instant. "Dragon Fire no jutsu!" he shouted as he leaped into the air firing his dangerous flames to the ground thus the earth became a temporary blaze of fire. Many of the enemy chunnins melted as the fires overpowered their bodies; that only made the Uchiha's smile wider.

"We got to get the injured to safety," called Rin to Gaara in a loud voice so everyone else would hear her. After making another unique hand seal, Gaara rushed the sand like a water wave motion and secured the Konoha fallen warriors to the rear defense line where Sakura, Rin, and Haku were. Obviously, they were using all sorts of healing techniques to reduce casualties and also firing a several suppressing attacks whenever possible. Rin cursed as she noticed the Sound kept coming in waves, even if they were experienced as Konoha's highest noble shinobis, they had something called limit. Judging by the looks of things, it just seemed so limitless.

"Kuso!" yelled Lee with a fiery passion as he launched a kick right at a Sound ninja's face and cracking his nose due to the force. In the edge of an eye, like how Neji encountered his opponents, a several of them grouped together in a surrounding formation. For the first time in any battle, Lee thought those aggressors were fools, if he earned the name of "Taijutsu Specialist", of course he would be able to defend himself against this easy obstacle. "Konoha Senpuu!" announced Lee as he made a violent 360 degree spin kick and smashed their faces into something that their mothers would not be able to recognize.

It was kind of amusing actually when you think about it, after all the time of training to become official middle class chunnins, they had to waste their lives in a meaningless battle that could easily been avoided. If they actually had some common sense whether to know the difference between right and wrong, maybe Lee would not have to have crippled their necks and force them to meet their maker so soon. Too bad, so sad, as he would say.

"What's this…" questioned Naruto suddenly as soon as he identified a familiar source of chakra coming from another direction nearby, "It couldn't be…"

"What is it, Naruto?" asked Hinata running to him after knocking down another shinobi to his death. She knew something was wrong, his eyes were scanning everywhere with uncertainties. Without warning, Naruto independently leaped off the ground and reached for the trees, Hinata was sure that he didn't even notice that she was next to him at that point. What could have gotten him to be this alerted? If he didn't want to tell her what was going on, she was going to find out for herself. After making an excuse to Ino saying that she and Naruto needed to scout ahead, she quickly pursued her husband from the rear to wherever he needed to go.

Meanwhile, at the other area Kiba and some of his support troops were heading towards the main battle at the West Gate. They took a minor detour knowing that the element of surprise was an essential method for shinobis to achieve victory. Since Kiba lived in this place ever since he was a baby to teen, he had much knowledge of the area he was about to invade. When he would see Naruto again this time, he made sure he would not leave the job half done, that insolent Death Knight would pay for his crimes after what he did to Akamaru all those years ago.

"Captain," called a member of his squad breaking his train of thought. Normally, Kiba would be yelling at the top of his lungs but he was in too much of a good mood to spoil it.

"What?" he asked with his voice containing no emotional attachment, "You want something?"

"Yeah, do you even know the way?"

"Of course, I do!" retorted the Captain of the squad proudly, "I was raised here after all. Even if I haven't been here for ages, most of the surroundings would not simply change after twelve years. Anyway, we should be there soon…" At that instant, he felt a major disturbance in the air and leaped to the right without giving any orders to the squad. The entire group looked at Kiba queerly before a legion of Death Coils consumed their faces or chest area. Kiba watched in horror as his teammates were wiped out that easily, he flinched when he recognized this specific attack for only one person knew it. Kiba knew Naruto was close. His eyes nearly bulged out when he saw him in person.

"Kiba!" shouted Naruto in a very out of character roar but filled with rage regardless from above. Kiba immediately took out of his kunais to defend as the Death Knight had his blade over his head ready to behead the traitor. If Kiba didn't take one step back, Nightshadow –the runeblade's name- would have hammered itself into his skull. However, since he was not quick enough to make an absolute evasion, Naruto still managed to slash the wimpy ninja knife into halves. Seeing his weapon was now generally useless, Kiba instantly tossed it away as Naruto incredible fury ceased to stop. Violently swing from left to right, upward and downward, the beast manipulator grimaced each time how close Naruto actually was from slicing his flesh. When he least expected, the Death Knight gave a kick to his face thus sending him back crashing on the grass.

"Naruto!" called Hinata as she finally reached the designated area, "What happened here?" she asked again as she landed beside him. Hearing that angelic voice, Kiba –who was still on the floor- slowly got back up on his feet to meet the girl of his dreams. When Hinata noticed who the person was, her Byakugan automatically activated and her previous concerns were forgotten. "You…" she hissed dangerously with full hostility, "How dare you…"

"Why such a grim face, Hinata?" questioned Kiba very casually as if he never committed the treacherous onslaught on Naruto twelve years ago, "It's been such a long time since we saw each other. It must be our lucky day to see another again, Kami-sama should be granting you one wish."

"Well," spat the Hyuga girl, "It's not working…"

"Why not?"

"I'm not dancing on your grave yet." Naruto would be laughing at her humour but he himself was too furious just by staring at Kiba. Surprisingly, Kiba was the one who laughed, and he seemed to laugh too hard.

"You crack me to the top of my bent, my sweet Hinata," the traitor spoke with utmost sarcasm but suddenly turned serious, "What makes you so sure you can kill me?"

"We can," said Naruto taking a step forward, "You may have been stronger but that doesn't mean that we having been working. I know that you have been alive all these years but who would've expected that you would sink as low as to join the sound. Look at yourself… you look like a piece of shit."

"Say what you want, Naruto-chan," mocked Kiba smirking amusedly, "Orochimaru has done a lot more for me than you can imagine, you will finally understand what kind of god he truly is! Death Knight, you will pay for stealing Hinata away from me!"

"I don't love you, Kiba!" yelled Hinata trying to get some sense into this man. After twelve years, he was still so negligent!

"Doesn't matter, Hinata," reasoned Kiba still having that confident smirk, "I will kill him no matter what. There is no way I could lose…"

"You are being way too confident…" said Hinata narrowing her eyes.

"Even if the West Gate can defend itself this time around, what makes you so sure that the South Gate can save itself from our wrath?" That statement took both Hinata and Naruto off guard. Gathering more chakra into her eyes, Hinata enlarged her vision to the maximum hoping to find out what was happening. When she did see it, her forehead began to sweat with terror once destruction was all she could see in her eyes. Fires, corpses, daggers, used explosive tags, broken body parts, and especially the five that were fighting over there, Shani and Kagari.

And at that exact moment, Hinata saw her daughter being kicked in the chest by a spider look-alike freak.

"Kagari!" screamed Hinata to no one in particular since Kiba and Naruto could not see things within such a distance. Naruto also flinched now knowing exactly was going on, his children were also battling and he was standing here not doing a thing. As his own teal eyes began to glow, Naruto easily detected the elites' chakra were equally or higher than Shani or Kagari's, and being outnumbered was certainly not an advantageous stand.

Hinata may want to just fly to her children and aid but she also had her own hands tied. Kiba couldn't have come at a worse time that was for sure. When Kiba saw the worried expressions on both his opponent's faces, he smiled with inward delight knowing their minds were altered. Judging by their looks, that Kagari person must be their daughter.

_How perfect indeed…_

"You speak of new strengths, didn't you?" inquired Naruto somewhat interested at Kiba's previous words –he was only trying to focuse more. "Instead of standing here all day, why don't we just get this over with? I want to kill you just as much as you want to kill me, let's get this thing over with. I have no intention to chat with an enemy."

"Getting as impatient as ever, aren't you, Death Knight?" Kiba asked raising a brow, "Your wish is my command." Naruto grunted audibly, someone had to deal with this cocky attitude. It was that moment when Kiba began to create a formidable set of hand seals that were completely unfamiliar to Naruto and Hinata, what was he trying to do. Without even announcing the technique, Kiba then slammed his palm down onto the earth and a very thick fog of smoke appeared from it. Not knowing what kind of move Kiba just performed, Hinata and Naruto both wisely formed a chakra barrier to protect themselves just in case anything drastic happened. As soon as the smoke cleared, they knew this was drastic.

"More dogs?" groaned Hinata dreadfully with her Byakugan concentrating further. Behind Kiba now were a pack of deathly hounds that were dark and fierce. By the heat emitting from them, Naruto assumed they contained the element of fire. The actual appearances of these hounds were similar to typical police search hounds but their strengths and speed were undoubtedly excelled regular mutts. If they weren't any stronger, why bother summoning them? Giving of a growl, Kiba's smile increased knowing his beasts were getting impatient.

"Kuso…" cursed Naruto in a hiss as the entire legion began their deadly rush.

_**(Currently at the South Gate)**_

The five had been battling for a long time by now, yet both sides did not show their tiredness. Of course they wouldn't since they all learned not to reveal their weaknesses to the enemy. Deep down, though, they knew they had their limits and all of them were taking steps rather too quickly to meet it. During the fierce combat, Tayuya received a deadly blow by a generated spearhead from Shani. To respond to that gift, the Sound girl angrily used her flute and played an eloquent sound. Since Shani did not know what she was actually doing, somehow his body began to ignite with a several small flares. After a few more seconds, it basically ignited him. Both of them continued to give each other strikes after strikes, neither one of them refused to stand down.

Kagari and Kidoumaru now detested another evidently. Their fight also appeared quite even since they had their own advantages at each perspective of the battle. Kagari was excellent battling close and long range but the arachnid ninja obviously had more confidence than her while fighting from a distance. To compensate for that weakness, the angelic girl always attempted to take on this fight in a melee combat. However, due to Jiroubo's ceaseless interference, Kagari nearly lost her chance every time. Yet, she did manage to deal heavy damage such as snapping one of Kidoumaru's one too many arms or possibly slashing wildly with her daggers. As mentioned before, since Kidoumaru did have backup support, he also was able to strike Kagari devastatingly with his arrows -especially on her legs.

The current situation now was more or less a standstill. Shani was hurt in the chest, Kagari had her leg wounded, Tayuya was in pain all over her body, Kidoumaru was in the same shape as Tayuya, and Jiroubo seemed to be fine. Yet, the only thing he would be lacking was chakra since he kept using it at his own ranged attacks.

As Tayuya missed another critical slash at Shani, Kidoumaru flew by them both and turned around so Shani's back would be facing him. After smiling excitedly, he readied himself to attack.

"Yeah! Death Blow!" the arachnid sharpshooter yelled loudly as he generated energies into his mouth and fired his venomous web beam. It may be quite disgusting but he didn't care as long as it was devastating. Luckily for the Death Knight, his little sister used a Mana Shield to defend against it but Kidoumaru was not pleased. He quickly moved back to dodge a Mana Burn from Kagari so he would not receive any more critical damage but yet from behind a boulder nearly struck him heavily.

"Jiroubo!" Kidoumaru yelled down in a look of disbelief and disapproval. What was he doing, trying to shoot **_him_** down?

"They're really annoying!" Jiroubo said back as if that was a justifiable reason. Once he answered, he himself reached for the skies before whipping at least six kunais at the twins. What he failed to realize was that Tayuya was amongst them and if she didn't do a thing to move out of the way, the kunais would have had her head. Undoubtedly, the Sound girl demanded a reason.

"Damn you!" Tayuya scolded with venom dripping in her voice, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Tayuya, you're the same!" With that said, Jiroubo fired a beam directly at Tayuya but she merely destroyed it with a simple slash. Shani and Kagari were shocked to witness this, what were they doing? Having enemies who fought another like this… who needed friends?

"They are attacking their own comrades…" Kagari whispered to Shani weakly.

"Yeah…" Shani said back not believing this either.

"You're the one who's annoying, Jiroubo!" Kidoumaru shouted loudly in chide. Suddenly, he yelled slightly but the twitching was completely noticeable. The Uzumaki twins only watched in stun not knowing what on earth was happening to him. It was then when they took their eyes on the other two.

Tayuya also looked as if she was in pain but her trembling did not seem to be too serious.

Jiroubo, lastly, tried to hold in the agony by gritting his teeth.

Of course, the Uzumaki duo did not understand what in blazes was going on. Within a few seconds of struggling, Tayuya could not withstand it anymore and began to shake and jolt uncontrollably as if she was on high on drugs -in fact, she really was. However, she did not appear to be close to being comfortable. Jiroubo and Kidoumaru both remained calm in the most convincing way as possible but Shani could tell they were experiencing the same torment.

"No… is it time already… Kidoumaru!" screeched the South Sound nin with evident distress.

"Kuso!" cursed Kidoumaru in a terror scream before he shot out a web to attach it into the tree branches and swinging out of action while taking Jiroubo midway and disappearing into the woods. Tayuya, despite she did not want to retreat, forced herself to follow her comrades and also withdrawn from the battlefield.

Shani and Kagari simply witness and absorbed everything that was displayed in front of them, which was so shocking that it even got them to forget that they were injured and drained. How were they truly feeling, they did not even know but mere "shocked" did not even describe it. As the two shinobis landed on the ground, Kagari immediately fell on the ground when her damaged leg made contact. Fortunately, the older twin managed to catch her before she hurt herself even more. When Kagari felt such security from her older brother, her face immediately flushed up.

"You have to be more careful, Kagari-chan," warned the Death Knight as he picked her up bridal style. The girl, however, didn't seem to hear him but only watching his face filled with concern. When her lips formed another caring smile, Shani did not know how to react. She was so reckless to have helped him and yet if she didn't he would have been more than likely to be killed. Just as he wanted to slap her so she would not smile anymore, he did not have the heart to do it when she turned her head to the right before falling asleep.

"Oni-chan…" she whispered dreamily in her slumber thus making his heart wanting to melt. Next, she took his lips into a sweet kiss, and Shani nearly fell over when he experienced the tenderness. Giving off another airy sigh as he retracted, the Death Knight placed his sister onto his back safely before taking flight once again back to the district of Konoha. Shani could not tell how the other Konoha shinobis performed during their battles, all he could pray for was hopefully they defended their designated spot well. After checking one last time that there were no more intruders in this vicinity, the Death Knight finally made an impulse to head back.

Furthermore, one thought still roamed in his head questioningly, why did those three decided to retreat? It just didn't make any sense…

_**(At the outskirts of Konoha)**_

"What…" Akira spoke to no one in particular when his eyes detected three people were heading towards their hideout. Just when he was preparing to intercept them, he noticed it was those three as they gotten closer. Akira thought that they would be looking for him but he knew his assumptions were wrong when he watched them enter the infirmary, or better yet the medical room.

Tayuya, Jiroubo, and Kidoumaru, still in pain, kicked down the door that accessed to the infirmary recklessly. Of course, that action alerted the doctors and medics who were inside. Seeing the elite soldiers have returned but did not seem to have achieved the goal of infiltrating Konoha, the doctors -in a very unfriendly and uncaring manner- approached them as the three fell on the ground unable to maintain their balance.

"What is the meaning of this?" questioned the doctor who was in charge, "You guys have not completed your mission yet." However, those kinds of talks did not please Tayuya one bit.

"Kuso!" she screamed in a screech with saliva and sweat dripping from all over her face and lips as if she was insane. Kidoumaru had no strength to even yell, all he simply did was twitch with pain continuing to purge through his entire system. Jiroubo suffered the same way. What did the doctors do now? Like ten years ago, they just examined them without a hint of concern or compassion.

"Orochimaru," called the Paladin from his radio hoping the other end would pick up. When Akira had some acknowledgement that Orochimaru picked up, he continued with his statement, "The Three have returned."

"Returned?" the sannin asked back not satisfied at all, "Why?"

"Looks like the medicine's effects have worn out already." Akira replied easily.

"Damn it… at a timing like this?"

"Yeah… Hey, what should we do now? How should we proceed?"

"We cannot commence the operation without them… and I simply can't let Kiba stay out there for too long either, we can't afford any more unnecessary casualties… Akira, give off the signal flares for all the troops to fall back and regroup, we can wait until another time."

"Call them back?" Akira questioned to make sure if he heard correctly, "But…"

"I know it may reveal our position but we got no other choice. Besides, Tsunade already has an idea that our forces may be out here since our attacks were on the West Gate. As long as Konoha does not have the strength to push us away, it will be okay." The Paladin decided to think about this logic before answering, after thinking of no faults, he agreed. Giving a nod, Akira received and carried out the plans.

'_Those worthless bastards' _Orochimaru said in his head angrily while walking towards elsewhere to tie up any loose ends.

"Fire the signal flares!" ordered the Paladin to a cannon holder, "We need everyone to regroup."

"What for, sir?" asked the soldier with respect, "The operation isn't complete yet."

"I know that, soldier," Akira interrupted him although he did not want to, "We cannot continue this without Tayuya and the others, the rest of the troops will be more likely to be killed if they stay in Konoha grounds lacking their support. Just tell your team to launch the signal flares!"

"Got it, Akira-sama!" he declared with a salute before taking off. In less than a few seconds, the squadron fired their small fireworks to the skies calling the other men to fall back.

_**(Meanwhile)**_

Kiba watched in absolute horror as another of his feral hounds turned into shreds of flesh meat before disappearing in a puff of smoke. How could they kill them with such ease? It did not seem that Hinata or Naruto were close to break a sweat and yet over half the hounds were already destroyed or pummeled. From the side, one of his feral spirits leaped at the Death Knight attempting to rip off his head in a death bite. Yet, Naruto, using a bit of thrust, made the hound land onto his left arm instead of his skull. In a turn of events, the army knife instantly plowed through the body thus a waterfall of blood came forth. As the Death Knight lowered his arm, the hound fell dead immediately.

Hinata also proved herself to be a deadly and lethal shinobi when she performed the Kaiten without difficult. Whirling two hounds into the air at once, she immediately added in the Fan of Knives as a combo to deal additional damage. Once the searing chakra shards pierced through one of the dogs, it disintegrated into nothing in less than a second. For the second victim, she generated her chakra into her palm before launching three sets of Mana Burn upward and each shot blasting through the dog's vital organs mercilessly. Having no doubts about it, Kiba knew his hounds stood no chance.

"Death Coil!" called out the Death Knight as he made a horizontal slash with his runeblade and a coil of death was unleashed. Although one hound leaped away to evade, the one behind was not so fortunate. As of result, the Death Coil literally decayed its face leaving the head nothing more than a skeleton. Of course, it was dead once that happened.

"Do you think you can hit me with just that?" questioned Hinata smirking a rare dark grin. Even if it may be completely going overboard, Hinata did not care. What was she doing, she was performing the noble Hyuga taijutsu arts of the Gentle Fist. Was it necessary for the Hyuga girl to fight at her near maximum -since she only used the Gentle Fist if she needed to gain the advantage- the answer would be no. Yet, it had been a while that Hinata actually used it again other than training with Kagari. Even though she may be skilled, if she only resorted to one set of fighting skills, the others would rust up and become defective.

"Jyuuken!" she declared once her hands made the first two-fingered stab. In a coordinated fashion, Hinata quickly struck another set of 32 right at random before slamming her palm into the hound's face. As the spirit animal flew back by the force and stamina, it also vanished into thin air like its comrades and friends. Hinata soon landed in a graceful leap and posture, her eyes were swimming with hidden fury as she tilted her head up slightly. Kiba began to terror sweat finally realizing that he would not stand a chance against these two together. He was out of options once again.

"They were hardly a fight," said Naruto, whose mouth was smiling sinisterly, "You're next."

"Just like twelve years ago," added Hinata also stepping forward to stand beside her husband, "You're trapped and have no one to help you. Unlike last time, you will not get away." Did that make Kiba worried about his chances of survival? A normal person with fear certainly should but he refused to be intimidated. Besides, it wasn't like he was out of tricks yet.

"I wouldn't talk so soon, Death Knight…" hissed the beast manipulator with another cocky grin, "Don't think that I am stupid, do you serious expect that I would take on you two if I knew I would die in your hands? I, Inuzuka Kiba, am a prepared man." Naruto just raised a brow pretending to be shocked. Obviously, his passive face made it as if his expression did not change at all.

"Entertain me then," the Death Knight demanded serenely. Kiba smiled in return.

"Gladly." After his reply, Kiba started on another form and series of hand seals. Hinata paid close attention to his hands looking quite impressed but Naruto -undoubtedly- just watched without saying a word. If he gave any sign of praising an enemy for their skills and talent, it only meant giving his opponent a set of confidence that may put himself to a disadvantage. Although Naruto had never see this before, he could tell it was another summoning technique.

"Summoning technique!" shouted Kiba as he slammed his palm onto the ground. In spite that nothing seemed to have happened after that, the feeling of chakra certainly proved itself otherwise. Both Naruto and Hinata knew something was here, the chakra signature and presence was so thick that a blind man without any capabilities of being a ninja could detect it. Would this be considered something that failed in stealth? Definitely yes, but it also told people this whatever it was could complete its job well without trouble. As the smoke cleared, since Naruto had his teal eyes engaged, he jerked back noticeably when he realized what it was; Hinata did the same.

"What is that, Naruto?" the Hyuga girl asked him no louder than a murmur.

"A twin headed hell hound?" Naruto seethed back in a question. Hinata knew he was worried, "Damn it… I thought Calamity and Raider told me these things were extinct… How the hell did this thing become something in your control, Kiba?" This dog was not massive. To be accurate, it was only considered a larger hound. However, not only was it pitch dark from head to toe, it appeared to be very hungry and more than likely to be lusting for blood. Moreover, it had one tail and splitting into two whips in the middle. As it continued to sway, Naruto easily told himself this thing was one hundred and ten percent dangerous. It may appear to be a starving death hound, Hinata easily noted to herself that something more must have happened to it, the darkness on its aura was too great to be anything in the ordinary.

"Orochimaru and some of the other elites such as myself had experimented on a hound a several years back. It was a normal dog then until we purged it with dark energies and trained it specifically loyal to only me. This pet of mine was specifically made to take you down, Death Knight. You will finally pay for stealing Hinata away from me!"

"For the last time, Kiba," Hinata scolded angrily, "I never loved you!"

"Silence, woman! Your husband will die today regardless of your feelings! I will show you the true feeling of helplessness as your dear Naruto perishes in front of your eyes! Go, my summoned hound, see that man and woman over there? That is your dinner! Do as you please!" With incredible agility, it attempted to tackle the Death Knight in a wild dash. Fortunately for Naruto -who had mastered the arts of being an assassin- he instantly leaped high to the air evading a death bite swiftly. Hinata gasped with unknown fear when she had no idea that the hound actually was inches away from biting her flesh, luckily its attention was all on Naruto for it pursued him by following suit and leaping to the air.

The Hyuga girl could not afford to just stand here and gape as her husband tried to survive this fight. Although she wanted to join him so his chances of winning would increase but Hinata knew better than to do that since Naruto preferred battling alone. Watching Kiba laughing maniacally in the edge of her eye, the Hyuga girl finally figured her next plot. All she could hope now was for Naruto to stand his ground for a bit longer as she soon became invisible using Wind Walk. She would personally thank Sakura for this when this was all over.

"Shit!" cursed the Death Knight as he slammed his blade into the twin headed freak's face. His objective was to damage the face but it became a failure as the hound opened it mouth thus the weapon struck the fangs. If this was an ordinary animal, Naruto would've easily crumpled its teeth so it would never have a chance to have meat for meals again. What totally thrown Naruto off guard was the fangs were harder than titanium, after hearing that bang sound when metal clashed with metal, the Death Knight knew he was in for it. If Naruto could read dog faces, he would've known that the hound just made a dark grin, and without any warning at all it tackled him hard.

"It's over, Death Knight!" chanted Kiba loudly giving a punch to the air, "You will be nothing but a chew toy when he is done with you!"

"Captain Kiba!" someone called from the trees catching Kiba's attention immediately. Facing the newcomer, his eyes narrowed at the Sound soldier's attitude. He may not be disrespecting anyone but Kiba could tell that that man was trying to retreat when the mission was clearly not done, "You're still here?"

"What do you mean I am still here?" questioned the beast master raising a brow in confusion, "Of course I would be. You should be working too!"

"Didn't you see the retreat signal?" asked the soldier pointing to the sky, "It flared two minutes ago."

"How come though?"

"I heard that those Three retreated."

"No way…" Kiba whispered in awe but not in fascination however. It was more like he was shocked that time went by so quickly without him actually noticing, "We can't leave yet."

"How come? Akira-sama told us that this is a direct order from Orochimaru-sama. We have to go."

"I got you!" yelled Hinata as she appeared in the air out of nowhere since she was in her Wind Walk. The Sound soldier immediately flinched defensively as Kiba threw two kunais at her knowing he had no time to worry about jutsu counters. He was too careless. To his surprise, Hinata suddenly disappeared into a puff of smoke and revealed a double of herself in a Kage Bunshin thus the kunais whizzed by through her leaving her completely unharmed.

Furthermore, due to the fact that she only made one additional copy, the clone obviously had capabilities to at least half the strength of the original Hinata. In a twist of movements, the clone shifted her hands to her front waist area allowing her back to be facing Kiba but she was actually powering her chakra around her hand. After turning back with a charged blast, the replication instantly fired beam knives in a shotgun style fashion. Kiba tried to defend with a dagger but the shots struck all over his body and ignited to mess up his balance. Seizing this perfect chance, the real Hinata unsheathed one of her own set of 15-inch twin daggers before gliding at Kiba with her angel wings completely outstretched and giving off a battle cry.

Kiba smirked cockily before reaching his pouch for a several highly explosive bombs. Once Hinata reached a tab too close, he whipped it at her and it exploded ferociously and fierily at the point where it made contact with her skin. No doubt the heiress screamed out loud as the pained seared through her body, the replication could not do a thing but to watch all this with fear. Next, from within the smoke, Hinata suddenly flew out with her main objective completely unchanged, the only difference was that she had both daggers in her hands. Kiba, without question, never would've expected such a move.

Just when he was about to gasp with surprise, Hinata was already in front of him with her daggers filled with raw demonic chakra. Although her movements were a deliberate statement of grace and beauty, it also carried a deep sense of brutality. With a devious swipe with her left hand, she immediately slashed off both of Kiba's hands and the blood gushed out from the wounds and smeared all over Hinata's clothing and face. The pain was unlike anything that he experienced before, it was even worse than Naruto's runeblade tearing his flesh, and definitely even more significant than the time Hinata kicked him in the nuts.

At the next instant, in a spin, Hinata forcefully jammed her right dagger -with overpowering chakra- into a crucial body part of his, the heart. As the weapon punctured through Kiba's heart, the victim immediately screamed in torment as the chakra irregularities overwhelmed his system. It may only be a few seconds in reality but within that short amount of time, much had happened. Kiba suffered from internal bleeding, his chakra vessels popped apart due to the improper mixture, his vital organs were soon electrocuted and completely destroyed, and he was only a few steps away from death. As the punctured wound sparked a several short flares of chakra, Kiba soon began to fall back in an absolute helpless state with the Hinata replication looking very shocked. In less than a second, Kiba exploded and all was left was bit of flesh and a rainfall of blood.

"Captain Kiba!" the Sound soldier exclaimed with total panic not believing what his eyes told him, "Crap…" He knew he had to move or the heiress would kill him as well. Once he noticed that Hinata flashed a stare at him, he quickly jolted and took off.

"I won't let you escape…" Hinata said as she fired her Mana Burns consecutively but only to have hit the trees and leaves since the soldier took cover behind them before running off at top speed. Hinata cursed to herself as she dispelled her clone, she then moved her eyes to where Naruto was and made a small signal to him to give him a hidden message. Once Naruto broke free from the sword and fang weapon clash, he immediately achieved a bit of altitude before allowing his teal eyes to spot Hinata. The Death Knight's face soon showed a smirk, and finally had a conscious effort to end this fight.

The hell hound's will was undoubtedly persistent; Naruto would give him enough credit for that. As it attempted to make a twin bite on both Naruto's shoulders, the assailant quickly used Blink to teleport himself at the rear of the beast with his blade pointing directly at its body. If he couldn't fight head on since its offensive at the head was as efficient as its defense, the Death Knight just had to come up with another strategy.

"It's over… Death Flame…" After declaring his attack, a massive deathly green inferno blasted out from the blade of his sword. In a mere instant, the wild beast screeched in pain and agony before the fires overpowered his strength thus disintegrating him and anything in its path. Once Naruto saw an explosion within his own onslaught, he grinned wider before dropping the jutsu. Giving a sigh of fatigue and wanting to sit down, Naruto sheathed back his weapon before relaxing himself from the previous tension. However, someone was more than willing to relax with him as her angel wings surrounded him and pulled him close to her embrace. Naruto, obviously, knew who that was.

"Naruto…" murmured Hinata as her arms tightened around his torso before she kissed him on the cheek. "We did it… we really did." She then rested her head in his chest and breathed in his scent with a touch of charming actions, and Naruto simply smiled at her before kissing her tender forehead.

"Hinata-chan," Naruto spoke in cooing voice, "You were amazing just now."

"I killed him…" the Hyuga girl told her husband as she looked at her blood stained hands, "I killed Kiba… I actually killed Kiba… and I don't feel a thing… I actually liked it… Is there something wrong with me, Naruto?" Her husband only caressed her cheek lovingly with an evident passion to secure her. Hinata's cheeks began to flush up again since she loved it when he was so caring.

"It's okay, Hinata-chan," he reasoned softly as his arms went around her narrow waist, "It's going to be alright, really. You hated Kiba and if you didn't kill him… he will always come back to haunt us and will always return with tougher opponents or new tactics. You did the right thing… you truly did."

"But I… I don't feel… no… I feel guilty that I don't feel a thing… why is that, Naruto?"

"Maybe it's because you knew Kiba personally," explained Naruto in her ear so he could comfort her at the same time. "I know you have killed many in your life, Hinata, but yet you have no regret or remorse to end their life since you didn't know them; there is no history behind it. But with Kiba… you knew him… I knew him… and killing him is similar to killing something within our hearts. We should be aching that he is dead but the fact is that we don't. It's confusing, isn't it, Hinata?"

"Yes…" she gave her response no louder than a squeak.

"Like I said before, it's not your fault nor did he deserve it. It's just it has to be done, don't feel bad about it, Hinata-chan."

"I love you, Naruto-kun," she said peacefully before holding him warmly again.

"I love you, too, Hinata-chan," replied her husband, "We have to get back, we need to report this to Tsunade so we have one less worry to worry about." Once he tried to break the embrace and wanting to retreat, he somehow could not break the hold. He reacted slightly when he saw his wife's demanding eyes, he clearly knew she wanted to remain like this for a while and absorb all the warmth she could receive from him. Hinata loved intimacy from him wherever it may be. "Hinata, we need to get back."

"But…"

"We should see if Shani and Kagari are okay, you do know that they were fighting at the South end just now." Hinata's eyes widened with shock, she completely forgot about them. "I cannot pick up anything right now… it looks like the battle over there has subsided but I am not sure if they are killed or not. Knowing them, I am sure Shani must have gotten back." Hinata nodded hurriedly and immediately kissed her husband. Not wanting another second to be wasted, Hinata immediately took flight leaving Naruto sighing to himself before he followed his wife. The Hyuga girl could be so passionate at loving her children at times, Naruto only hoped nothing would go wrong.

_**(Meanwhile at a small encampment in Konoha)**_

"Good work, everyone," said Tsunade inside the temporary military meeting hall where all the action was. Needless to say, this place was gigantic and it was underneath the Hokage statue monuments at the north end. As she walked past everyone with a several words of encouragement, she noticed the other wounded shinobis and survivors were currently resting and eating as Tsunade continued her words. "Although I am not sure why they retreated so suddenly, but I know they will be more than likely to attack us again… Please, just be careful and I wish you all the best. I pray that Kami-sama would watch over all of us." It was then when the small gate opened to reveal two weary youngsters, Shani and Kagari -with the girl sleeping on his back and the boy seemed exhausted himself.

"Could anyone… please… take my sister to somewhere that she can rest…" coughed the Death Knight as he was about to fall. Fortunately, Tsunade quickly caught his head before he smashed it on the ground. Despite how much the boy wanted to smile back with gratefulness, all he could do was pant and intake air deeply. He was completely drained; Tsunade could not believe that he was still awake. "Grandmother…" that was Shani's name for the Hokage since Tsunade took responsibility to be Shani, Kagari, and Hikaru's grandmother, "Take Kagari-chan to…"

"What about you, Shani?" asked the Hokage in disbelief that her grandson did not care for his own health and safety. "You are bleeding!"

"I'll be fine…" groaned the Forbidden child, "Just take her…"

"You need to rest, too, Shani!" she shouted at his arrogance, "If you don't, you will be dead from the internal injuries! Shizune, come." Promptly, her attendant arrived beside the Hokage and took the weight off Shani's shoulders. The young Death Knight relaxed significantly after Kagari was off his back but tiredness was still plastered all over her features. At the same time, children -who had parents working as Shinobis began to enter from another entrance so they could be reunited with their family- came in. Yamase, Umi, Asuran, Kuroto, Tsubasa, and Hikaru were shocked to see their two friends nearly at wasted stage. Although they were only suffering from exhaustion, they still worried.

"Shani!" came a voice from afar, and the Death Knight half-curiously watched as his friends ran over to him. The Forbidden child knew that was Asuran, "Hey, dude, you okay? Why did you go out and not enter with us? You could've been killed!"

"You are such an idiot…" added Tsubasa very lazily yet worry was all over her words.

"Shani… man… what happened out there?" Hikaru questioned trying to be as supportive as possible.

"I don't think Shani should be talking to you guys right now," explained Tsunade as she isolated Shani from the group of children who were becoming genins, "I will take it here from now. He would be fine after I treat him, so don't worry about it."

"But, Hokage-sama…" argued Umi extremely concerned, "Will he be okay?"

"He is only drained from stamina, Umi," explained the Hokage warmly with much faith in her words, "Shani is strong to make out of this with no problem, he has been through a lot more than simple drainage." Umi looked very doubtful and wanted to see for herself if her admirer was truly okay. It was just her luck when Tsunade tilted her body unintentionally so she got a view of him, Umi was surprised that his hair was brushed aside but his left hand still covered it in a very tired manner. His heavy breathing certainly served as a hint, and his eye only showed nothing but frustration.

The young Death Knight then followed the Hokage's lead and went into a resting room or more so the small infirmary for chakra restoration. Asuran looked over to the bed that Kagari was in, he seriously did not believe his eyes earlier when he saw the girl taking into the skies too when she was ordered to enter the shelter. What was she thinking doing something that dangerous to jeopardize her own life, wasn't Shani's action worrisome enough? Asuran rubbed his own hair in a groan, he did not know if Shani's influence rubbing off on her was such a good thing. However, if Kagari did not follow him, Asuran would not even know if Shani would've made it back safely or be killed. Nonetheless, he was glad that Shani was alive.

Kuroto merely grunted with tightened fist while witnessing everything that was given to him; he simply hated being weak and powerless. Like Shani said before, why sit back and wait for other people to take care of things when they had the full capacity to do it themselves? Kuroto could not justify himself at all, he just followed orders and hid safely while others such as Shani did everything for them. Was he that useless? If he went out there, could he have made a difference by just a little?

He trained daily with Shani as well along with Kagari and Asuran, his skills shouldn't be in any insufficiency if he actually engaged into combat, but yet why did he stay behind? Kuroto could not allow himself to fall behind like this, Shani and Kagari had already met in an actual battle while he was lagging behind in skills. The next time this happened, Kuroto would not simply allow this to slide; he needed to be stronger to protect his family, to defend this home, and most importantly to survive for the sake of the minimal number of Uchihas remaining.

Yamase just prayed everything was okay… at this point although she was deadly worried about both her relatives' health, she also wondered why her parents did not show up yet, did anything happen to them? Then she suddenly recalled her own sister who was still in the mansion, but she calmed herself knowing the Hyuga mansion is not easily penetrated and Kari was more than likely to be okay. At the same time, she desperately wanted some of the things Shani and Kagari witnessed out there; it appeared that would have to wait until their small operations were over.

**_(At the same time, in the outskirts…)_**

"Are you sure you would want to do this, Orochimaru…" Akira asked the sannin in an very exasperated and irritated voice, "You do know that you are not making this operation go any smoother for doing this." Orochimaru was listening but his eyes weren't looking at the blond Paladin, the sannin was more focussed at the lowered level room that was in front of him. The glass he was looking through was from the higher area, therefore he could see everything inside. Who were within the room? It was those Three.

Kidoumaru collapsed on the door wearily and in pain, he even gasped heavily as if he was lacking air. In truth, it was immensely painful that he had trouble breathing -although his lungs in theory were fine. Jiroubo was on the floor; eyes bulging widely; his hands holding his abdomen as if it was about to burst. Tayuya was lying on the bed holding the blankets and biting it as if that was her life. Anyone who had some common sense would notice she was only trying to hold in the agony. In the corner of her eyes, tears were leaking out. No doubts that all three of them were undergoing another wave of anguish; Akira wondered how long they could actual last like this.

"You are always so kind aren't you, Akira," questioned the snake sannin smirking an amused smirk, "You are way too soft."

"But what good is it if you punish them like this?" reasoned the Paladin trying to argue, "If you don't do any of this, we should be still attacking Konoha right now and dominate! We are not only stalling our own operations, we are also giving our enemy time to recover! We are putting ourselves at the corner here!"

"It isn't like our troops don't need rest, Akira," justified Orochimaru collectively, "If we continue too recklessly, we would be wasting and tiring out our forces before the final attacks are over. We can't let that happen, can we now?"

"However, you are letting your elite soldiers die…"

"They may be in pain but their chakra is recovering at normal rate, that's what rest is all about, right?"

"But they are your elite-"

"It is because they are elite soldiers, that gives them more of a reason to show me the results I ask from them. I hope the next assault would not be a mere demonstration. Kiba took this thing too lightly and the cost of it was his life, I can't have my only three men being as careless as their bitch loving captain."

"I still can't believe we lost such a critical loss today… this shouldn't have been the case…"

"Then we must be more careful with these three." Orochimaru finished firmly, "I will deal with them in the early morning, it's already the late evening after all and fighting at night is not something in our favour. We will commence the next attack then. You and I should get some rest ourselves, Akira."

"Yeah…" agreed the Paladin before leaving the area with Orochimaru. Akira took one last look behind before leaving, an expression of pure empathy never left his face until he truly left the vicinity.

**_(At the Konoha encampment, Tsunade's temporary meeting room)_**

"Shani-chan!" exclaimed Hinata extremely relieved to see her son perfectly well. Although Shani had a blindfold on with his headphones in his ears, he could hear his mother's joyous cries through his music. The precise moment he knew Hinata was here, he received a very passionate embrace from her. Hinata was so alleviated that she didn't know her own strength, "You're okay… Oh, I was so worried about you!" Several tears seamed through her eyelids, Naruto -with Kagari in his arms- knew his wife was crying, "How could you do something so dangerous?"

"…" Shani's face was bright red, not because his friends and other adults were here, it was because his face was on Hinata's breasts when she embraced him. "Kaa…" When Hinata felt breathing on a forbidden part of her body, she quickly realized where her son's face was. Hinata quickly loosened him a bit so he could look at her directly as he removed his blindfold.

"Sorry…" the Hyuga girl replied shyly.

"Yeah…" Shani said back not carrying a lot of emotions, but his cheeks were blushing. As he heard Tsubasa giggling at his embarrassment, the Death Knight merely gave her the "one eyed stare".

"How could you go out there when Iruka told you to stay out of the town?" Hinata suddenly changed her tone of voice to a disappointed one. Naruto, the adults, and the children quickly felt a very distressed aura from her. "You disobeyed his orders and nearly gotten yourself killed! How could you not think about the possible consequences and acted on your own? Did you think about how your friends would feel if you got hurt? Did you ever even considered how your father and I would feel if you got killed?"

"If I didn't go, all of you people would not be standing right here having this conversation, mother," Shani spoke back without any remorse or guilt. Hinata could not believe what she was hearing, by the sound of his voice; she believed that Shani felt her judgment was wrong.

"He only suffered from exhaustion, Hinata," Tsunade told her trying to defend her grandson. Surprisingly, Hinata gave the Hokage a very cold glare. The Hyuga girl was the mother after all, Tsunade -despite her Hokage title- did not have the power to step in.

"You're the same as your father, Shani!" scolded the heiress that made Rin and Gaara move back slightly. Yamase and Umi never expected such an angered force from their peaceful aunt, even they began to cower behind their parents as Shani took every blow, "Reckless, having your emotions as your tool in life, never listen to others, always endangering yourself, not loving yourself enough!" She then even glared at Naruto and Kagari but more on her husband, "You never made an effort to teach him better things, Naruto! You always let him do whatever he wants while he should be doing things that are good for him. Because of this, he is becoming exactly like you and he also influenced Kagari to be like that too!"

"Hinata," said Neji calming her down by restraining her lightly, "You're going too far!"

"No, I am not!" the girl retorted angrily.

"If Shani and Kagari didn't go out, we would've suffered over twice as much," Rin stated trying to defend her nephew. Although she understood why Hinata would be so upset, at the same time, Rin would also be very proud if Hikaru helped out. The Kamishiro girl could not grasp why Hinata did not look at the larger picture and viewed things so narrowly. She wanted to tell her but she also wasn't in any position to tell Hinata what she should do, "I know those Three that Itachi-sempai told us before were the people that engaged Shani and Kagari."

"I know that, Rin," Hinata answered with a more calm voice than a few seconds ago, "That is exactly why I was so worried… I can't believe that my son and daughter battled THEM, they would have been killed if they did…"

"I know I don't have the power to say this, mother," the little Death Knight spoke with a voice that carried no hint of sadness, anger, or happiness. "I am not trying to sound righteous either. But if Kagari and I did not defend the South gate a lot more men would've been killed since those Three managed to kill over thirty men in less than three minutes of the war,"

The adults paid very close attention to the boy at that moment but turned when Kagari leaped off her father's arms and stood beside her brother.

"The South Gate was completely defenseless in an instant, and none of you would even notice that happening due to the fact that you all had your own tasks to carry out," explained the Uzumaki girl serenely, "Moreover, those Three could easily penetrate the town and our efforts of hiding to safety would be in vain if we didn't do something to stop it. If we engaged them at the shelters, more people would get hurt. "

"What if you got hurt, Kagari?" questioned Hinata in a voice that she didn't use when she was talking to Shani, "It's our job as adults and shinobis of Konoha to defend this village. You are only a child, you shouldn't be doing these kind of things that can jeopardize you."

"I know, kaa-chan," the Uzumaki girl retorted, "But like I said before, we do not have enough people now since the invasion was extremely sudden. A majority of the shinobis were killed as if they were nothing. Even though we might have survived, the Sound still is in the advantageous position in terms of having numbers. We lost more than we gained, and we have no choice but to do something if we have the ability to."

"You worry too much, Hinata," Naruto expressed himself in a relaxed fashion; he wasn't even angry or disappointed that his children went out to defend their home. In fact, if they actually followed Iruka's instructions, he was certain that the village would suffer from more damages and casualties. Of course, Naruto would be frightened if anything happened to them but somehow he had great faith in both Chaos and Forbidden to keep their children safe, "Shani and Kagari are growing up after all, it is only a matter of time before they have their very first battle experience. I am just stunned to hear that their first opponents were those three elites."

"Naruto…" Hinata whispered with a grunt and a sigh, "You are too carefree about this. These are our children, our light, our future, my loved ones…"

"I didn't say they aren't, Hinata," stated the Death Knight in a solemn voice all of a sudden, "But you do know that this is inevitable. Whether it is today or tomorrow or even next month, Kagari, Shani, and the rest of their friends in this room would become genins -the official ninjas of Konoha. Eventually they would engage the process of combat and other extremes, can you always be like this and baby them as if they would be babies forever? They need to grow up, and despite how much I do not want them to fight in a war that they have minimal chances of winning, I do not think I have the right or mind to stop what they believe in."

"Naruto…" Hinata murmured as the adults continued to listen patiently.

"Hinata, you have to let them go, you must give them the choice of freedom. I know that Kagari and Shani would not do something as stupid as giving up their own lives and practically wasting their talents and opportunities, but you just can't protect them like they are little infants. Although it may be a bit soon, we have to let them choose what is right for the sake of Konoha… they need to defend themselves so they could survive through this. You do know that, right?" The Hyuga girl nodded in a sniff, the others only looked away slightly to ponder in their own thoughts. Just thinking that their children becoming involved with the outside world made all the parents frown, it reminded them of the old days where the Sound first invaded.

They were ignorant to a degree. All of them believed that life would be simple and followed a path. Becoming an academy student; then soon become a genin and complete basic missions to have a taste of the real world; then promote to a chunnin to experience more exciting and valuable experiences and possibly even do some killing; promoting to a jounin and become a genin instructor so they could bless the children with hope and strength; then hopefully get married and have children and a family; and when they got old, they could enjoy life and reflect upon it. However, things were never what they seemed to be. All of them remembered their first chunnin exam, which gave them a very clear picture of what the outside world was truly like.

Greed, hatred, jealousy, envy, desperation, corruption, poverty, torture, these were merely basic examples of what they witnessed. Every moment in their life they had easily discarded that these factors existed but when they got involved in it, it was similar to an explosive igniting in their faces. They were so ignorant that the Sound had eyes on Konoha the entire time; they had no clue that the Akatsuki were searching around the world hoping to find the most powerful beings for their cause; it was so overwhelming to realize all the corruptions, and damn hell they were disgusted that they were so negligent. For the same reason, that was why all of them did not want their children to get involved so soon but yet the facts were in front of them, the children would know eventually.

"I am sure that your mother is very proud of you, Shani," said Rin with a great smile as she patted her nephew on the head. The Uzumaki boy only grinned back but his next words destroyed Hinata's heart.

"My mother is not proud of me, Auntie Rin," the Death Knight declared with a very straight face, "If she was, she would not have blamed me for anything that I have done. I did not fight because I wanted to be regarded as a hero, all I wanted to do was to protect the people I care about or they would be destroyed by now. Yet all I received was how reckless I was, how retarded I was to do such a thing. I do not do the right things to be yelled at, and if mother wishes to jeopardize my home because she doesn't want her little Shani-chan to fight, I will pray that Kami-sama damns her to hell for believing such trash." Kagari put her hands in front of her mouth, completely frightened at what he was saying.

"Oni-chan…"

"If you love to deny the things that are happening around you, mother," continued the Forbidden child now directing his words totally at Hinata, "I do not want your affection for I refuse to receive it from a coward. You have made me lost all my respect for you, I don't want someone like you to be a nuisance in my life. By the way, if you were actually the Hokage, I am more than certain that all of us would be executed since you won't do anything about it."

"You don't mean that… do you, Shani-chan?" Hinata asked on a verge of breaking down. Naruto knew just how vulnerable she could be although she was always taught to be strong. Shani just smirked to respond.

"When do I kid about these things?" he countered with a question, "I hate you, mother, for being overprotective of me and never minding your own business in my life." Naruto and Kagari jerked once they heard it, the room was dead silent and the tension between mother and son continued to increase as each second went by. Hinata was devastated where as Shani still stared at her without any feeling, he did not appear to be joking at all.

"What did you say, Shani?" Hinata asked her question no louder than a whisper. Tears were flooding her eyes but it didn't come out just yet. Her son smiled again with dark delight.

"I hate you, you got a problem with that?" The casualness in his voice was not fake, and it was that point where Hinata broke down in tears. Naruto immediately rushed to his wife's side as she wept like he had never seen before, and surprisingly he did not even glare or appear angry with Shani. Out of the blue, the Hyuga heiress pushed him away and ran out of the room hurriedly. Naruto and the others also followed her so Hinata would not do anything crazy, the Death Knight could not believe that this meeting turned into a family crisis. However, he somehow expected it knowing how Shani's attitude was similar to his but much more insulting and dark; it was only a matter of time before the little one spoke his mind. Not regarding anything else, Naruto hurriedly ran after his wife waiting for her to stop and let everything out.

Hinata suddenly Blinked away while Naruto was still following her. Activating his bloodline limit immediately, he found out that she teleported onto the roof of the building. Forming a set of hand seals, he soon copied her technique and appeared on the roof as well. Hinata curled herself into a ball with her back facing him, he obviously could tell she was crying and suffering from depression. He did not know how to proceed this at all, he only followed his instincts and sat next to her with his arms pulling her closer so he could hug her.

"Go away…" she insisted with her voice behind her arms, "I want to be alone…"

"Hinata…" Naruto groaned as he guided her nearer trying to coo her, "It's me. Come on, don't be like this…"

"You hate me too…" she replied still sniffing and her voice was trembling with despair, "I know you do hate me… everyone hates me…"

"Shani doesn't hate you, Hinata-chan," encouraged Naruto as both his arms were around her warmly, hopefully she would be better but he knew it would take more than that, "No one hates you, we could never hate you. You know, he still loves you."

"No, he doesn't… he never lies to me. He hates me… my son hates me…" Her previous aura was now replaced with a depressing one, the Death Knight wanted to do anything to see her smile again but he knew only Shani could do that now. All Naruto was capable of doing was for her not to fall deeper into her own grief. When Hinata finally leveled her head so her eyes could meet Naruto's, it immediately flooded with tears again before she practically tackled the Death Knight into an embrace. No doubt she was still crying. "My only son hates me!"

"No, he doesn't…"

"Yes, he does!" she screamed finally, "I am a bad mother! I don't know how to make my son happy! I know Kagari doesn't like me either and eventually she would hate me as well! My son… he hates me…" Hinata couldn't take it any longer, she then wept heavily on Naruto's shoulder.

Being her faithful husband, Naruto embraced her and allowed her to cry. After all, it would be quite demolishing to the heart if his children detested him. Sadly enough, if Naruto was in Shani's shoes, he would've said the same thing -of course he didn't dare to say that now when Hinata was under so much hurt.

"Believe me, Hinata-chan," he reasoned with the most appealing voice he could adjust to, "Shani can never hate you, he was just very angry that you never had faith in him in anything where he always showed so much promise in everything he did." Hinata suddenly stopped her crying and listened to what he was trying to tell her. "He has been very upset that you always baby him, I know concern is natural for a parent but Shani wants you to believe in him yet… I don't know how I should say it… you always doubt and question his motives. For once, I am sure he would want you to allow him to be independent."

"What did I do wrong, Naruto?" she asked him with tears but her voice was stronger than trembling, "What did I do to make Shani dislike me so much? Am I a bad mother?"

"I think you are a lovely mother, Hinata-chan," he replied ever so sincerely as he kissed her on the forehead, "You have raised them to be very strong people, Hina-chan, you know that? They were willing to sacrifice their lives for the future and for the sake of this place, if you weren't there to guide them, do you think that they would have such passion? You have taught Shani and Kagari to love more than physical aspects in life because you love them so much, and they learned to love you as well."

"Naruto…" she whispered with her eyes flooding with an emotion called gratitude.

"Don't ever believe that you are a bad mother, Hina-chan," he told her again and she kissed him, "You are a great one and no one is perfect. Just trust Shani a little more, okay?" She nodded in agreement but not very enthusiastically.

"Okay… but what about Shani? Do you think Kagari is…"

"We should talk to him when he cools off," suggested Naruto still holding his wife affectionately, "He will come around, I promise." Hinata then cuddled her head into his chest and rested there as her hands reached for his and held it gently. Leaning down a little, the Death Knight planted another kiss on her forehead.

"I certainly hope so…"

"I love you, Hinata, always."

"I love you too, Naruto…" she said intimately before she gave him a gentle and yet passionate kiss.

_**(Several Hours Later but before the sunrise)**_

"Akira-sama!" exclaimed Tayuya joyfully when the Paladin entered their resting room even though she is under a lot of pain. Kidooumaru and Jiroubo scowled in a hiss but their eyes lightened up when they saw what was in his hands.

"Don't tell anyone who gave you these, okay?" Akira said as he presented what he held.

"The antidote!" Tayuya said happily as she wanted to reach for it. Akira gratefully handed all three of them the medicine and they popped the cap while their hands continued to twitch. After opening it successfully, they consumed the contents in a rush. As the medicine filled their body, the elites relaxed noticeably.

"Thank you, Akira-sama…" Kidoumaru said gratefully with a smile.

"Akira-sama!" Tayuya exclaimed again this time with great delight. In an instant, she was hugging him very tightly around the waist as she cuddled him with pure charm and fondness, "Thank you so much." Her voice sounded heavenly, Jiroubo and Kidoumaru's eyes merely narrowed at her sweetness. They knew she would never talk to them with that kind of friendship.

"Aren't you affectionate today, Tayuya," Akira said amusedly with a smile as he placed her one foot away from him so he could get to the serious stuff. However, Jiroubo beat him to it.

"You want to know what happened, right?" assumed the South Sound nin while looking at Akira with a hint of neutrality. "You want to know why we didn't infiltrate the town?"

"Exactly," said Akira with a nod, "Based on intelligence reports, Konoha's south defense should be around the same as the West End and with you three entering… it shouldn't be a stalemate."

"There were two of them…" hissed Tayuya darkly as she recalled the events before they retreated, "It was a devil… and the other was an angel…"

"What?" the Paladin inquired confusedly, "How is that possible?"

"She was beautiful," added Kidoumaru to respond, "She has wings like you, Akira-sama. Large, white, feathery, strong, she is really beautiful."

"What about the other?" Akira demanded an answer from them.

"That devil has silver hair that blocks his left eye," replied Jiroubo, "He carries a scythe and his eye has no pupil but a lavender iris." Hearing upon this news, Akira seemed very pleased. The Three did not understand how their news could be entertaining to Akira, it were only facts.

_Right?_

"Looks like your infiltration was not a failure after all," he finally said after five seconds of smiling, "You three have no idea what kind of news you just reported to me."

"Like what?" asked Tayuya timidly with her cheeks having a shade of pink.

"You three had engaged demons, it was no wonder why you guys had a hard time." Tayuya, Jiroubo, and Kidoumaru looked another confusedly for they never expected that their enemies were demons. To be blunt, they first believed that their wings were their bloodline limit. In fact, it was partially true.

"Demons?" questioned Jiroubo raising a brow.

"A Death Knight and a Paladin actually," corrected Akira in a lecturing kind of way, "And it's also very interesting that you said the Death Knight had clear, pupil-less eyes. He is also a Hyuga… these two are not your average day enemies, and the Sound can never have these people running around alive. Killing one person meant dealing with two noble families at once, talk about joy."

"What should we do, Akira-sama?" asked Tayuya catching on this exciting feeling, she wanted to kill again.

"When it's sunrise, we shall commence another attack. And once you find them, deal with them as you please but just don't bring them back here, kill them in action, do you three understand?" The elites only nodded with a too knowing smirk, they liked that idea a lot. "Demons are our enemies, so they must be killed. I can count on you three, right?" Promptly, they nodded with absolute agreement.

Sunrise came within a several hours and it was time again to take in the Gripheptan to increase their fighting potentials temporarily. As Tayuya, Jiroubo, and Kidoumaru discarded the small container and crushed it by stepping on it, only one goal was in their minds as they prepared to take off.

"Those two demons…" whispered Tayuya smirking sinisterly.

"They're…" added Jiroubo with silent determination.

"They're going down." finished Kidoumaru with a deadly glint in his eyes. Precisely at that point, Tayuya leaped off to the right direction, Kidoumaru launched the web string from his right arm and swung towards the forest at the left and Jiroubo followed his arachnid friend's lead. Akira –from a distance- watched his loyal comrades take off as he gave them a smirk and a salute, those Three gave one back before fully advancing at top speed.

Turning back to the headquarters, the Paladin prepared for his own mission…

**_AN: I will apologize if my action sucks crap, this is really not my strength. Next chapter you will see Shani's reaction and thoughts about what he said to Hinata –Of course, there will be a lot more than that but that is one of the plots. However, who will he talk to? Who is the person that will take the courage to talk to him? Give me a suggestion or I will pick at absolute random._**

**_Kagari? Yamase? Or lastly, Umi? (Pick One)_**

**_If you guys really want me to continue with this fic and not start a new one, please tell me or you will not see another update for a very long time and I can guarantee it. I do want to start a Seed fic but if you want updates with this fic, TELL ME or I will truly delay this. With that said, please take care of yourselves out there. _**


	6. Onslaught of Resolution

_**Downfall of the Light 3**_

_**Chapter 6: Onslaught of Resolution**_

Legend:

"…": Speech

'…': Thoughts, they can also be in italics

Scene changes are listed in bolded italic brackets.

**_AN: I am getting less and less things to say about my fiction, just please be a good audience and enjoy it like you always do. This is probably one of the last chapters that I am going to do before I stop for a while. The best that I could do is probably produce chapter 7 and 8 and then rest up until my mind has more ideas. It's a shame that none of you guys can truly help me on my problems in life, but it also sucks when people in real life are not that kind to support me either. Nevertheless, I will live through it and hopefully gather enough will and power to continue with this fiction. I certainly hope my chapter will answer some of your questions that you might have asked, but if it doesn't, future chapters would be able to elaborate. Thank you all so much for reviewing._**

**_To those who reviewed, you have my eternal gratefulness for you are people who actually give a damn about the outcome of this fiction._**

**_A reader asked me why Akira (The Paladin that works for the Sound) wanted Kagari dead as well when she is also a Paladin? Good question. Normally, I would simply say that he is doing it for the sake of entertainment but that response would be too lame.   
So, my answer is that Akira knows the only other Uzumaki that is alive is Naruto –who is a Death Knight. Other younger Death Knights and Paladins must be related to Naruto for Akira himself never engaged sexual relations with anyone (He is NOT gay, just no one interests him for now). Anyone associated with a Death Knight by blood (even if the child is a Paladin) is practically a sin to Akira. So, he wants all of them dead. _**

**_Also, about the "vote"… To be completely honest, it didn't really influence me to write what you all wanted me to write. Personally, I think I shouldn't have asked that question to begin with for at least half a dozen of you believed in my judgment. Thank you for that, and I hope I have made it to at least reasonable. Now, do me a favour and enjoy this latest work of mine. Thank you all once again. _**

**_(At the Konoha's encampment)_**

"What do you want?" questioned Shani as his demon master forcefully came out from his left eye, which caused the young Death Knight to flinch noticeably. The Death Knight then sat on the bed with his right eye completely cold and unreadable, and merely stared at his sensei while waiting for him to say something. Forbidden sighed to himself before looking at his dark apprentice with a solemn face, the young demon master clearly knew what happened before. Hinata's despairing aura could still be felt in his veins, how could Forbidden just sit back at watch his mistress to be in such shape when her son was the cause of it. In spite of how the revenant demon hated to do lectures, he needed to.

"What do I want?" countered the winged demon looking down at his apprentice, "I want nothing from you."

"If you have nothing good to say, go away…"

"Shani," said Forbidden in a voice that even Shani had to obey, "What the hell happened back there with you and your mother?"

"She was being annoying again, trying to influence me with her ideals," reasoned Shani still in a passive voice that carried no feeling. Forbidden speculated what he had done to have his little apprentice have such an attitude for this boy was similar to a living zombie but with much common sense and logic.

"Influence? Why use such a word?" Sometimes he wondered why Shani could be so cold and bitter.

"She believed that defending Konoha was wrong, why should I respect someone who believes that?"

"Hinata-sama was only troubled about your safety, your mother would naturally be concerned if she knew her only son was going to be killed at anytime. Why can't you understand that? Why be so stubborn?"

"Stubborn?" Shani instantly countered with an "one eyed glare", "I have had it with her arrogance and her know it all beliefs. Every single year of my life she has to know everything. Academics, training, meditation, my interest for music, my decisions to have a few friends, she always has to bud in! I don't need her everywhere in my life, you understand that, Forbidden-sensei?"

"She is only being what a mother should be. She wouldn't give a damn about what is happening in your life if she didn't care. Your mother, Hinata-sama, wants you to know that she would always love you no matter what."

"Get real, Forbidden-sensei."

"What kind of normal parents disregard their children after taking care of them for so long and putting everything they can give you? Naruto-sama and Hinata-sama love you and they always will, they both care because you are their son. Can't you understand that at least? If my mother was still alive… I really wish I knew how to love them more and be stronger so they wouldn't have died."

"Touching…" was all Shani said. The demon master knew his apprentice was clearly being sarcastic.

"Shani," Forbidden stated with a sigh, "Please talk to your mother again, just make up and be a normal family once more. I know your mother is devastated by your words… I kind of wish you never got it from your father, you two are completely identical… a bit too similar."

"Is that so?" the Death Knight questioned again without care but slightly saying it for the sake of having a conversation.

"One last time, apologize to Hinata-sama, Shani." Forbidden said in a command, "I know she wants to love you for as long as she can."

"Guess what, sensei," Shani spat with mockery, "I don't need it."

"How could you turn out like this after all your parents did for you, Shani?" Forbidden asked him with pure concern, "You have completely become what Hinata-sama fears most."

"Is that so?" questioned Shani as he brushed his hair a little, "Maybe if I had some kind of better memory with people, I would never be this way to begin with. Humans brought on this thing on me, and they will be punished for doing so. I can live without love from anyone."

"Don't say something that you do not mean, Shani," said Forbidden sternly, "No one can live without love in this world. If Chaos isn't by my side, I might have gone insane and depressed because we all need it."

"The only catch is," the little Death Knight rebutted in a counter, "My relationship with Mother isn't the same with you and Chaos-chan. You can't compare these two things. Begone, sensei, I don't want to talk about it anymore. Your words are not helping."

"You are the one who is wrong, don't be such a jerk and believe that your actions back there are correct."

"No one said I was right," stated the Forbidden child, "At the same time, I don't want to hear anymore. If you aren't here to comfort me, you are better off elsewhere." Although Forbidden was quite ticked off at what Shani said to him, he managed to keep his cool. Shani may be incredibly mature for his age, however, sometimes his actions certainly reassembled a child. Who could blame him, he never had a decent childhood life, and obviously he had no experience whatsoever to know what being a kid was truly like. If he couldn't be immature at three, what else could he do?

"If you don't want to talk about it, I won't force you," said Forbidden suddenly, which made Shani take a small glimpse at him before staring at the ceiling again without any interest. "But I want you to know that your mother is more than likely to be crying somewhere nearby because after all these years of caring and loving you, you -being an uncaring bastard- shattered her heart without remorse or regret. I want you to think about it thoroughly on how much you actually hurt Hinata-sama, and if you have a conscience, you will talk to her and apologize. I have no intention to force you but I will allow your conscience to decide." With that said, Forbidden then vanished in a fog like fashion before going back inside Shani's left eye.

The Uzumaki kid smirked his usual smirk before placing his blindfold to cover his eyes and headphones in his ears and blocked the outside world from interfering. He wouldn't just give in now, he had his own anger to cool down before he advanced to the stages of conflict.

**_(Later on in Kagari's small room)_**

"Asuran… I am worried…" Kagari told her admirer, Uchiha Asuran as the two of them sat on the bed. The young Uchiha was blushing since Kagari was so close to him and her curves were practically brushing against his. During the conversation, she slowly and very skillfully made him had his had around her waist and holding her close to him. She even began to make herself comfortable in his arms and soon her head was already on his shoulders.

"I know you are, Kagari…" replied Asuran whispering to her ear, "We all should be…"

"Call me Kagari-chan," she murmured endearingly as she kissed him on the cheek. Asuran's shade of red gotten darker as of result and Kagari just giggled cutely. She loved it when he was under her charm.

"Sure, Kagari…chan…" said the Uchiha with stutter, "But… I am worried about your mother, Kagari-chan. She took quite a blow from what Shani said… imagine my father saying that to my mother, she would be devastated. I am sure your mother felt the same way…" Hearing that, Kagari's previous devilish smile turned back into a sad frown. She only nuzzled closer and while sending an unknown loving feeling to Asuran's skin.

"I know… I really do…" stated the Uzumaki girl truly in despair, "I can't believe it either…"

"Should you talk to Shani?"

"I should but I don't know what I can possibly say…"

"But you're his sister though," Asuran reminded her softly.

"It's because I am his sister, it makes it more difficult. I might accidentally sound like I am siding with mother and oni-chan would feel like he would have no allies."

"Was Shani right for saying 'I hate you' to Auntie Hinata?" asked Asuran now holding her closer so he could see her face. Kagari, surprisingly, wanted to hide herself from him. "Talk to me, Kagari."

"I don't know what I can possibly tell him, Asuran," Kagari told him wanting to cry. Asuran did not know if she was genuinely crying or that she only wanted some attention from him. Not that it really mattered, being a good friend, Asuran only hugged her warmly. Soon enough, her arms snaked around his torso before the girl truly gave him a very affectionate embrace. Her hand slowly roamed around, Asuran could faint from his heart beating way too quickly for its own good. Who would've known Kagari was an expert at manipulation.

"Do you really mean that, Kagari?"

"Mean what?" she asked innocently while looking at him before kissing him on the cheek as if it was alright. Of course Asuran thought it was alright, he liked this girl a lot and getting kisses from her without him requesting was like a dream come true.

"Do you really think that you can't talk to Shani?" he asked again before wanting to kiss her on the forehead. Her beautiful pale skin was tempting him to the top of his bent; her pink lips moved as if it was seducing him; the tilting of her head gently moved her indigo hair back lightly to reveal more of her beautiful visage; and lastly those indigo eyes that contain a small glint of teal… Asuran believed they were alluring. Indeed, Asuran truly and undoubtedly thought Kagari was gorgeous but he had no courage to tell her that. He had told her that she was pretty from time to time but he somehow got the feeling that Kagari wanted to hear more from him.

As soon as the Uzumaki girl saw that his face was a tad bit closer than usual, she gave him her trademark smile thus Asuran suddenly backed away blushing. Kagari giggled to herself inwardly but also regretting that she indirectly pushed him away. She was actually anxious to get a kiss from him.

"Yeah…" she replied no louder than a whisper, "I will talk to him when he cools off, it's better that way."

"I guess so…" In a wild turn, Asuran found himself attached to the mattress with his hands pinned down on it by someone. His face showed nothing but panic when Kagari was the one who was in control. She seemed very unsatisfied about something, but in this position that they were in Asuran only thought she wanted intimacy. She was so beautiful and seductive, how could anyone resist her? Once she smiled charmingly at him, the young Uchiha knew it contained anything but innocence.

"Asuran," she said in absolute command.

"What?" he asked back while still tied down.

"Can we not talk about anything depressing?" Kagari suddenly suggested as her hand fitted in his.

"But…"

"Please?" she pleaded battling her eyes endearingly. "Please, pretty please?"

"Sure…" Asuran responded not knowing what else to say. Moreover, he regretted his words.

"Do you remember what we did last time we were alone and where we were?" Kagari asked him while smiling delightedly. The Uchiha pondered for a bit before his golden onyx eyes widened immediately with his face red as a strawberry. He knew what she was referring to already in an instant.

"No?" he squealed in a frightened way. She only grinned irresistibly.

"Really? I am sure you do, Asuran-chan," Kagari told him touching his cheek affectionately with her hand, "You and I both know where we left off… We were at the ramen shop just having my usual dish…"

"We were also chatting," added the Uchiha boy also recalling his thoughts. Kagari smiled when he really remembered.

"We were also alone…" she went on dreamily.

"Then we began to talk like usual…"

"Then I accidentally spilled out my feelings for you."

"And soon I told you mine…" Asuran was smiling happily now.

"We leaned closer to another…"

"You moved your angelic face in front of mine…"

"Your handsome one was all that was in my sight…"

"We kissed…"

"For the first time…"

"It was amazing…"

"Nothing but bliss…" finished Kagari sweetly as she fell on him while watching him squirm under her touch. Asuran could not believe how good she was at charming men, she was indeed a natural. "Asuran… it was too bad that I found your mother was coming back last time…"

"Such a shame, wasn't it?" asked Asuran playfully as he brushed a bang out of her face. Kagari nodded in agreement along with a giggle. It was then she gave him her lustful smile.

"It was… I was hoping to continue it right here… and now." Judging by her voice, the Uchiha knew she craved for attention but more importantly affection. Asuran immediately scanned the room quickly for any catches. Although this was a small personal room, louder noises could be heard from the other rooms if they emitted them. Asuran gazed back at the girl with a doubtful expression.

"Can we? This is not like my house or your house… we got no privacy…"

"Kissing doesn't need to be loud," justified Kagari calmly with her smile, "Kiss me, Asuran-chan. You know you want to… and I want you…"

"But…"

"Do you care though?" she asked him as she gently kissed his lips this time along with a small lick. She was teasing him, obviously. Asuran nearly wanted to kiss her back but she pulled two inches away to tempt him. By licking her lips and tasting her own mouth, she gave off a very satisfied expression that was practically telling Asuran that he should've been there himself. The boy looked at her body for a while, for a twelve year old, she had a body of someone fifteen. Chaos must be blessing her beauty onto this girl, any pervert would believe that she was luscious. It was no wonder why both Hinata and Naruto refused to let Jiraiya get close to Kagari, Kakashi also as a matter of fact. At this moment, Asuran couldn't take it anymore and flipped her down with him above her.

Kagari immediately obeyed his command with her lustful look; even her head tilting is seducing him to fall deeper into her beauty. She moved her lips just a little to hint her wants.

"You got to stop doing that," commented Asuran still above her.

"Kiss me, and I will stop." Kagari playfully ordered with her hands in his. Without further adieu, the Uchiha -in complete wild emotions- took the beauty's lips and gave her a passionate kiss with tongues and touches. Kagari moaned instantly as his tongue brushed against her lips demanding entrance into her mouth. Kagari refused to allow him to dominate so quickly so she nudge so lightly at him to signal that he must do more than that. Asuran finally showed a bit more aggression by giving in more feeling, and when Kagari felt that his tongue and lips have done enough work, she finally made room for her tongue to grasp his.

Surprisingly, Asuran quickly seized control by literally sucking onto hers with his own thus sending much satisfaction and pleasure throughout her entire body. Kagari loved this fierce side of him, she would be more than willing to permit Asuran to do anything loving to her. Although Kagari may be young, she knew who she could truly trust for a lifetime. The duo kept making out with more affection than the last, their unknown emotions continued to build as each second passed by, both turned down the offer to stop, and eventually they found themselves at the wall with Kagari's body making total contact with it.

Asuran was in front imprisoning her so she wouldn't be escaping, yet the expression she displayed for him showed no intimidation. Rather, she seemed amused.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked a little out of breath but kept her grin, "You trying to dissuade me?" The young Uchiha gave back a very knowing smirk in return, he was just so charming to her.

"I am not going to do anything," he said back with a powerful voice that made Kagari adore further, "You're not going anywhere, that's for sure."

"I don't want to go anywhere," she replied with her hands snaking around his neck into a loving intimate hug, "All I want to be is with you."

"You tired yet?" Asuran inquired while raising his brow but now his arms were around her slender waist.

"Never…" she whispered back seductively as she gently pushed -or guided as Kagari would put it- Asuran back to the bed before conducting another make out session. This would be a long night, both knew it in the bottom of their hearts as clear as day.

_**(An hour after sunrise)**_

Shani did not even show up at breakfast this morning, his seat that was left specifically for him was empty for thirty minutes already. Hinata revealed no aura but quietness; Naruto certainly worried about her so deeply. Although he wanted to look for his son also, he could not bare to leave his wife's side at a time like this. Getting Hinata back up on her spirits was first priority -according to him that was. Kagari -who was sitting beside Asuran- looked very down as well. Who knew where that mysterious warrior was, this boy would've been a champion at hide and seek -that was if anyone wanted to play with him.

At that moment, Umi excused herself after her indulgence of food and took off elsewhere. Even though her reason was going to the bathroom and then rest, Yamase knew that the Uchiha girl took something with her and her ambition was not to simply go to the restroom. The little Hyuga knew Umi was looking for Shani ahead of her. She wouldn't allow that to happen before her eyes. After drinking down her cup of sweet soymilk, Yamase also quickly excused herself before jogging off. Tenten and Neji blinked at another with confusion; they wondered what their daughter would be so anxious about. Whatever it was, they knew it was nothing too drastic -hopefully.

The little Hyuga girl leaped to a higher area to remain her stealth. She looked around this place with a grunt containing irritation. For a shelter, this place was much more complex and unexpected than it seemed to be. She couldn't believe technology would have such an influence or ability to create such difficult facilities. This vicinity was obviously huge. Yamase just thought about something just now, she couldn't interpret why this world lacked technological weapons when society itself was developing under these circumstances. If she put everything together, Konoha should be a city and would long evolved from a dinky village.

Shani could be anywhere, knowing her favorite cousin he would be in the least expected places here. However, she wanted to curse herself when she heard Umi call out Shani's name from a short distance, Yamase knew she was too late. Yet, her curiosity took the better of her as she landed back down on the ground area and hid behind barricade like inanimate objects as cover. She made sure she was close enough to listen at least.

"Shani-kun," Umi called him before approaching him while he was on the couch in an opened resting room. He seemed completely annoyed even though she couldn't see his eye since he had a blindfold on. In his ears, he had his headphones again to intentionally isolate himself from reality. Umi frowned at his sleeping form; one leg was dragging on the floor; his arms seemed disorganized; and his right leg was resting on the armrest. To put it in simpler terms, he seemed to be in a mess. "You okay?"

"What?" Shani spoke in a voice that showed he was clearly awake before taking out his headphones.

"Nothing much…" the Uchiha girl sheepishly replied while putting her hands in front of her lap shyly. As Shani removed the blindfold and sat properly, he quickly noticed the plastic wrapped cheese sandwich in her hand. "You hungry, Shani-kun?" Umi asked him as she offered the food.

"I already ate," said the Death Knight flatly making the Uchiha girl frown and retract her previous statement sadly. Shani sighed to himself in his mind before approaching her again, "But thank you anyway, Umi-chan," he told her and she brightened immediately, "I had a lousy breakfast…"

"What did you have?" questioned the cherry raven hair girl looking into his clear lavender eye trying to not be addicted by it, "Fresh air?"

"Pretty much," he replied stoically, "Except I had water midway…"

"You call that a breakfast?" she asked him as her hands held his shoulders with care, "How could you not eat at all? You need to take care of yourself better."

"Who cares about that? I am a demon, I don't desire to eat."

"No," she corrected swiftly, "You are also human, and you, Uzumaki Shani, cannot survive without eating. Now eat!" The girl then unwrapped the sandwich and ripped it into quarters so it would be small enough to put into his mouth. In a mere instant, she jammed a quarter into his lips thus making him cough as of result. As he chewed on the intruder of his mouth, he swallowed it not too gracefully. Yamase's face displayed nothing but worry. Despite that, she couldn't reveal herself just yet.

"What was that for?" he demanded a reason as he gagged again airily. She only replied with a smirk.

"It was for your own good," Umi justified happily as she placed another one into his mouth but his hand stopped her. The Uchiha girl frowned along with a pout trying to get her way but his dull expression was too difficult for her to continue. Shani could be that cold regardless of whoever it may be.

"I don't think things that have the potential to block off my air circulation and then kill me is that helpful for me, Umi-chan. If all you're here for is to give me breakfast," he then kissed her on the cheek like he always did, "I thank you. If you don't mind me leaving -"

"I do mind actually," she suddenly told him straightly but then blushed afterwards.

"You do?" he inquired with a short stare before relaxing his eye again.

"Yes… I want to talk about yesterday…"

"Oh, don't get me started…" groaned Shani obviously not wanting to get on this subject again.

"You're going to no matter what, Shani-kun," the emerald eye girl ordered as she made him sit back on the couch with her next to him. Umi soon kissed him on the cheek for comfort, "I know you're confused."

"Confused about what?" he questioned her as she shifted a bit closer.

"You don't know what you should say to Auntie Hinata, I assume?" she told him in a question.

"What is there to be said?" Shani countered again.

"Don't be such a jerk, Shani-kun," said Umi as she presented him with another piece of the sandwich like she was feeding him. Shani normally would just take the food from her but he was too focussed on why she called him a jerk. In other words, he just allowed it to happen but Yamase was extremely jealous that Umi was feeding her Shani-chan. That was one of her dreams and Umi stole it right there!

"What are you saying?" questioned the Uzumaki warrior not grasping the meaning of this. Without warning, the Uchiha girl began to lean on him and soon her head was found resting on his chest. To make Shani truly blush, Umi began to moan and purr when she found herself comfortable.

"Think about it," she whispered softly, "I know you're hurt… but your words can make anyone hurt. It hurt me to know that you can say such things, Shani-kun. Not only that, those things that you said to Auntie Hinata… what can ensure me that you won't say such things to me or anyone else? The Shani-kun I know for so long may be collected… but not filled with hatred."

"My mother is different," defended Shani in a calm voice, "You had faith in me all the time, Umi-chan. After living with Mother for so many years, I thought that I would've earned at least a small bit of trust from her so I could gain one step further to independence."

"I am not saying that you don't deserve to be free," said Umi nearly kissing him since she was so close. Her cheeks began to flush up as soon as she felt his warmth deeper, she loved Shani so much and yet she couldn't find it in herself to tell him, "But if you are not her son, why would she care? I am your good friend, and you worried me, too. I really thought that you would die from exhaustion…"

"It's just energy drainage, Umi-chan," Shani spoke rolling his eyes a bit.

"I didn't know that!" scolded Umi in disbelief as she held his hands in hers lovingly. Unfortunately, Shani did not notice her touches completely. The "one-eyed" demon was indeed oblivious to more hidden affections. "And I know your mother did not know either. All she knows was that Shani and Kagari were fighting elites from the Sound and their powers are not only unpredictable but dangerous. I thought Yamase and I would have to rip out our hearts because our closest friends were going to die." Shani seemed quite speechless, "Do you understand-" It was then when the PA system emitted a loud voice all around the encampment. Yamase, Umi, and Shani went on alert immediately when Tsunade's voice was heard.

"The West Gate is under heavy siege," said Tsunade in the most natural voice possible, "Would all available shinobis please head out immediately and while the designated medics remain here to look after the wounded. Those who do not fit in those categories please also remain here for safety. I will repeat, medics and civilians please stay here. Please, I wish all the best of luck…" The last bit of her statement sounded very hopeless and depressing, Shani was very impressed that his grandmother kept her voice straight for that long. However, confidence alone would not work in the long run in these kinds of circumstances.

"Shani-kun," Umi murmured nervously as he got up from the couch, "Are you going out… too?" The young Death Knight did not even face her for he would not be able to resist her endearing face.

"Yeah… I would have to… none of you would be able to take on those Three…"

"Don't go… I don't want you to-"

"Die?" Shani questioned turning his head to the right so his eye could look at her slightly, "Can we avoid it though? I really wish none of this has happened but those three are on their way here to kill all of us. If I don't go, we would all be dead. Umi-chan, stay here and wait for me… and… don't do anything stupid like how I did." With that said, Shani gathered a tiny part of his chakra and immediately disappeared with a Blink. Yamase wanted to get out of her hiding spot and stop her lover but she found herself too late.

"Yamase," called a voice suddenly from behind the Hyuga girl. When she moved her head back, she found out if was Asuran and Kagari was also with him. She wondered what they were here for.

"Asuran-kun…" whimpered Yamase shyly as the Uchiha and the Uzumaki girl approached her. Since she said his name out loud, Umi, who was near by, became alerted that her friends were here. "Umi-chan…"

"Have you seen Shani?" asked Kagari hurriedly to both girls.

"He just left…" replied the Uchiha girl sadly. "Shani said that we…"

"We shouldn't follow him?" finished Asuran for his cousin and Umi only nodded with genuine guilt, "Damn that bastard… always doing things alone…"

"What can we do?" asked Yamase very worriedly, "I don't know what we should do…"

"Shani-kun will not make it out there alone," Umi told the group with her voice filled with anxiousness. All of them knew she wasn't excited but troubled -deeply.

"I can't let him die out there," Kagari stated very distinctly, "I just can't!"

"Well, that is the wisest thing that I have heard all day," voiced Asuran with his hand patting on her shoulders. The three girls watched him confusedly while he merely responded by a grin. Whenever they saw that specific grin of his, they knew he was up to something –more or less risky.

**_(Meanwhile at the West Gate)_**

"Take this, eliminate!" cried Kidoumaru as he descended from above while whipping his web spherical breaker at a chunnin who whipped a several kunais at him. His aim was so poor that Kidoumaru did not even bother dodging and he made it out okay. As the extreme dense web smasher crashed into the ninja's face, Kidoumaru easily killed him when his head was knocked off during the process. Once he found out more reinforcements were coming from the rear, he quickly extended the wire and launched the cannon ball at them while smashing their crotch area to end their lives.

As several Leaf shinobis entered the combat scene, they were instantly destroyed as a legion of boulders, rocks or falling logs struck their faces or chest. As they crashed landed on their backs, the South Sound nin quickly took out his own ninja weapons before making a small counter attack. The instant that the weapons punctured through their flesh, Jiroubo knew he had ended them right there.

He knew more were on their way, and at the moment that he found them Jiroubo did not hesitate to fire energy beams chaotically while killing off the Leaf's advancing fleets.

"Where are those two demons from yesterday?" shouted the chubby elite as he performed an earthshaking move so Mother Nature would devour other worthless victims.

At another sector of the West Gate held many men who were coming to aid. Unknown to them, a girl was already there waiting for them to fall into her trap from below them. With one vertical glide upwards with her trident doing all the work, nothing seemed to have happened for the first three seconds. Next, as she looked down at the hopeless squadron, she laughed out loud as they all separated into two parts with no sense of retaliation. She had cut them cleanly as if it was nothing; Tayuya couldn't control herself and continued her laughter of enjoyment.

Elsewhere at the exact moment, Shani -with his devil wings engaged- flew by an infiltrated area where many Sound invaders were present. Once they saw a devil was gaining on them, they immediately commenced attack by any means possible. However, as the Death Knight got close and having his scythe above his head, Shani dived down vertically therefore guillotining a man's head. Several others took on the Death Knight without thinking but they seriously wished that they did when Shani effortlessly killed them all with one single lightning flare.

This massive chakra discharge alerted those Three who were searching for him. They knew at that point that their target was close. In a natural reaction, they headed for that designated area.

Shani was still killing off each men by destroying crucial body parts, and there was one where he jammed his spearhead into someone's heart thus making it explode due to improper chakra mixture. Although he wanted to kill more, his Byakugan eye suddenly read three dangerously high energy signatures coming in from the right.

In addition to his difficulty, he detected two concentrated energy beams were fired his way. As the young Death Knight leaped high to evade them, the two rays pierced through the surviving Sound chunnins as if they were in the way. No doubt they were now dead –although they may have had the chance of surviving if someone rescued them. Jiroubo did not care at all; all he cared about was seeing the Death Knight's downfall.

"Alright. Looks like I found that strong one," Jiroubo said to himself with a smirk. The Forbidden child only grimaced as he prepared for their onslaught.

From the right again, Tayuya –although she isolated herself from the two- already generated a highly charged plasma beam and blasted it directly at the Death Knight. Practically gathering all the agility he could muster, Shani flew high and barely escaped the beam as it curved unexpectedly upward making it even harder to dodge. Talk about a sick sense of humour. Frowning at this disadvantage, he knew he needed to find himself one but not when Kidoumaru came in swinging with a web and kicking him hard in the ribs thus making the boy lose his balance when he seriously needed it. If Shani was just some nobody, his ribs would've shattered.

"We're surely going to kill you today!" announced Kidoumaru in a cocky laugh as he passed by leaving a pained Uzumaki warrior.

In the left direction, Jiroubo began to shower Shani with everything he got. Tayuya finally began to move in while unleashing her own plasma and lightning attacks in waves, and Kidoumaru came down from above firing his webs and other projectile assaults. With this kind of formation established this effectively, Shani was unquestionably cornered and would be soon crushed. After nearly being hit by Tayuya's beam, the Death Knight desperately tried to find an opening by twists and turns. In one second of dodging, the situation became a dead lock with no way out.

"Shit!" he cursed dreadfully as his palm made a small shield to deflect Jiroubo's energy flares, Shani helplessly glided back hoping to seize the advantage after he got out of the line of fire. Yet, Tayuya refused to simply give the advantage to Shani. Gaining more speed in her flight, the Sound girl flew to Shani's side before firing her previous plasma beam. He gasped when he noticed it, and the immediate action was to attempt to evade. Unluckily for the Death Knight, this one struck him cleanly in the chest.

"I got him…" hissed the strawberry blond hair girl victoriously as she held her trident back in striking stance. Her cold dark eyes remained unchanged, "Perish…"

"Hey," Kidoumaru called down to her while achieving higher ground in the sky, "Don't hog him all to yourself, Tayuya! This is our kill, leave some to us!"

"I will kill the first half," justified the Sound girl without much feeling as she began her 'compromise', "Then it's all yours…"

"That's not fun!" argued the arachnid male, "He wouldn't be retaliating then! That's not fair!"

"No one said life was fair," finished Tayuya considering her words legitimate before doing her own thing. After rushing at Shani with high speed, Tayuya prepared herself to do whatever she was planning to do last time before that angel girl interfered. She would preserve Shani's head for the sake of remembering that someone stood a chance against her and how pitiful it was when he fell by failure.

Just as Tayuya was so close in achieving her goal, a chakra dagger came at her out of nowhere in a boomerang like fashion. Knowing that if she didn't do something about it, it could easily hack off a limb or two. Doing what was best, Tayuya made the choice to whack it away but her target soon escaped of her reach.

Moreover, a green flare was fired at Jiroubo to stop him from advancing. It certainly did the job well for if he did not stop his actions, the beam would've broken off a kneecap or something within that department. Finally, Kidoumaru whizzed by an attack that was intended for him. However, the arachnid ninja knew it was too close for comfort, it nearly burned off his skin.

It was no surprise that those Three became enraged.

In the skies, the dagger soon returned to its owner, and it was no other than Kagari. What Shani didn't expect was that Asuran was with her, why were they here? Once again, the young Death Knight did not understand why they followed him out to this region, but Umi's words somehow repeated in his head and Forbidden's as well. They came out because they care about you or they simply wouldn't care, Shani kept that in mind very securely.

"Shani!" yelled Kagari to call him.

"Kagari, Asuran…" whispered the young Forbidden child, "Why are you…"

Kidoumaru soon descended in a dive before charging at them with his right hands blasting the newcomers with chakra flares and poison webs. Kagari and Asuran quickly flew at different directions hoping to evade, "Why you, bastards!" Kidoumaru screamed fiercely with frustration as he continued to fire without mercy.

Tayuya was at the right while gathering chakra for the blast. The magnetic charges and her creepy amused cry were heard just before she unleashed it at full force at all three of her enemies.

"Great, the angel is here too!" Jiroubo said it out loud with utmost satisfaction that knowing he could get both targets at once. At this moment, he was showering Kagari and Asuran like he was doing with Shani moments before. However, he did not know who the Uchiha was but the beam cleaver he held certainly was intriguing.

"Jiroubo, what about that other guy?" Kidoumaru spoke very irritatingly since he was being rude, "The fight is now three on three."

"I know that, idiot!" the leader of the squad replied rashly causing Kidoumaru to glare.

"What did you call me?"

"Who cares, just get rid of him as well. Do you really need me to tell you that?" Next, Jiroubo directed this message to the girl on his team, "You understand, Tayuya?"

"Whatever," she retorted with no interest but still understood anyway, "That devil is mine… I don't care what you do with the other two." Whenever she said something, Tayuya did not expect herself to have the need to repeat what she stated before. In simpler terms, she assumed they heard her right. After keeping that in mind, Tayuya gracefully rushed at Shani and left the other two to her comrades. She would deal with Shani for good today.

"Kagari," Asuran said as he glared at the other two remaining two elites who were firing at them already.

"Let's get them!" announced the Uzumaki girl before taking out her dual daggers as she generated both blades with demonic chakra. Hearing her being so eager to get things started, Asuran nodded in agreement before charging his cleaver as well. Kidoumaru raised a brow slightly with an amused expression, he clearly did not care who this new Uchiha bastard was, he would die for interfering with their tasks.

"Sharingan!" declared the Uchiha male as his eyes engaged the colour red and with two rotating dots appearing around each pupil. Although Jiroubo and Kidoumaru did not notice the sudden change in Asuran's eyes, they would wish that they did when it came to the actual battle. Hastily, Kidoumaru quickly made way to the skies before he launched his spherical smasher at Asuran. With one violent swing, the Uchiha used the beam part of cleaver to deflect but suddenly Kidoumaru retracted it back slightly to make Asuran strike nothing but air. At the same time, it was perfect to strike again so for real this time, Kidoumaru swung the breaker –the spiked cannon ball- accurately at Asuran at full speed.

Knowing that he did not have the time to completely counter, Asuran did whatever he could and used the back of his cleaver and whacked the condensed web ball away at Jiroubo who was busy dealing with Kagari. Having his focus completely on the girl, he did not even see the weapon coming. As of result, the weapon smashed effectively at Jiroubo's chest giving way for Kagari to prepare herself.

"Oops," Kidoumaru lamely said with a sneer as he heard his friend grunt in pain. His brows went up a notch again as he found Asuran making a tremendously quick glide at him, undoubtedly he was trying to slash him. Giving off a snicker, the spider ninja only ascended higher to evade thus angering the young Uchiha further. It appeared that this guy was a rookie, Kidoumaru only wished that he got Shani instead of this mysterious nobody. However, he would still make good use of him.

"Shadow Strike!" yelled Kagari as she directed her palm right at the distracted Jiroubo before unleashing a swarm of slow poison and real poison chakra daggers. Having no sense of retaliation, Jiroubo took every single dagger completely and in that second the immense amount of pain he received was only a mere fraction of the agony that he would receive in the next eight minutes. He grimaced at the sudden disadvantage and angrily whipped two kunais at the angel before she took flight to the left dodging it. Kagari smirked knowing the first ten seconds were up, and suddenly an enormous jolt of pain consumed his body. Since he was hit but at least twenty daggers, the poison damage amplified by that amount.

Needless to say, it was shockingly distressful.

"What are you doing to me, bitch?" Jiroubo demanded a reason as another wave of pain arrived again. "What did you do? Damn it! Tell me, demon!"

"I don't think I need to tell you," Kagari told him as she spun her weapons casually before making eye contact with him, "You will figure it out yourself."

"Why you!" he grunted with fury before taking charge at her. At the moment he moved, he quickly figured out the second symptom of the Shadow Strike. This was worse than it appeared to be.

_I can barely move…_

"With you slower than a pig right now," Kagari spoke with much meanness before aiming her palm at him. Jiroubo knew that he could not even budge well and the glowing green chakra in her hand did not appear like anything close to non-hostile, "There is no way I could miss."

In a split second, Kagari unleashed her wrath of Mana Burn, Forked Lightning, Chain Lightning, and Mana Flare on the Sound nin, she was going to toast him into roast pork alive. Normally she would feel guilty for this type of overboard brutality but her mind only wanted to kill and destroy, they would pay dearly for this. The usual loving girl soon smirked again as she fired, she knew Chaos was enjoying each second of it deep inside.

_**(Elsewhere at the same time)**_

Somewhere else nearby, another battle was commencing and each sided seemed to be quite even. Although that may be true for now, Kidoumaru clearly held the advantage over the Uchiha. This time when he heard Jiroubo scream with torment, he had no choice but to worry about his safety. "Jiroubo! Damn…" What he didn't realize was that Asuran managed to gain the level (height) advantage before forming a series of hand seals.

"Fire Element," Asuran began before holding his hand in front of his mouth, "Phoenix Fire no jutsu!" Raining fireballs came down like a shower but it was nothing that Kidoumaru could not deal with. Extending the wire on his spherical breaker, he started to rotate it quickly in a circular motion before the wire itself went around so quickly to form a thin shield. As the fireballs made contact with the shield, all of them were either deflected, destroyed, and nullified. How could a piece of wire be this effective, Asuran did not know this at all.

"Surprised?" questioned Kidoumaru pointing to his weapon, "This thing has an anti-chakra coating on it, you do know what that means, right?" That cockiness only made Asuran grimace. As long as Kidoumaru had time to counter, all of his projectile attacks would render useless. The one solution to gain the upper hand he had was to achieve greater agility than the spider freak. Speaking of spiders, the Uchiha was seriously impressed with his opponent's speed. For a spider, he traveled like a bird.

Despite the fact that having good agility was essential for a shinobi, dealing with one who had such skill was a nuisance. At that moment, Kidoumaru took out his bow with an arrow in it as well. Asuran jerked back immediately with caution.

"Stand still, little boy," ordered the arachnid shinobi while licking his lips, "This wouldn't hurt at all if you stand perfectly still. You don't want to feel pain would you?"

Yeah right, as if he would simply stay put at where he was and get killed without giving a fight. Once Kidoumaru fired, Asuran had no other option but to dodge –that was unless he didn't value his life but he did since he wanted to marry Kagari one day. His eyes widened with absolute shock at the speed that was traveling at, it was like as if he fired it off of a crossbow! Tilting his entire body in the quickest manner possible, the Uchiha was relieved when he successfully escaped it but he was not too delighted when his left sleeve was practically sheared off. That only meant one thing, he was not fast enough, and it plainly meant that he would be hit eventually as he tires out. His chances of dying escalated at that spot.

"Shit…" cursed the Uchiha but he was surprised to see Kidoumaru was no longer there. As he watched over to the right, he saw his enemy heading towards Kagari -who was seriously tormenting her opponent by firing everything possible. What made Asuran worry even more was that Kagari was so attached to her entertainment that she did not detect another presence behind her.

"Let's go! Hate!" Kidoumaru roared hoarsely as he pulled back his bow as he fired at Kagari skillfully. Hearing upon that maniac like voice that could be recognized anywhere, Kagari quickly snapped out of her obsession before shifting to the left so the arrow would not penetrate through her flesh. That bastard would have it coming for sneaking behind a lady like that, Kagari thought to herself. After narrowing her eyes with one thought in mind, she kicked Jiroubo away before advancing on Kidoumaru -who she now deeply hated. However, Asuran intervened right between those two.

"Asuran…" whispered Kagari wanting him to move away, "I got him! Move it!"

"No," he replied coldly with solemnity at the same time, "I'll deal with him. I do not end fights until it is really done… I'll show this bastard that he should never take me lightly." Noticing how badly Asuran wanted this chance, Kagari did not have the heart to take it away from him. Although she disagreed since Asuran may get killed, it did help even out the chances, henceforth, Kagari agreed somewhat reluctantly. At the same time, the girl and the Uchiha boy glanced at Jiroubo -who was consuming a soldier pill of some sort- tiredly. Kagari winced when she detected his wounds have mostly healed and his chakra went back to at least half or three quarters. Kidoumaru smirked with his eyes closed.

"You already need to take that pill, Jiroubo?" the spider nin asked with a cocky sneer.

"Shut up," retorted his comrade in a displeased tone, "You aren't doing any better…"

"Whatever, let's kill these two already." Giving in a nod, the four shinobis resumed their ferocious combat.

_**(Meanwhile at the encampment where most of the Hyuga household members were in the conference room)**_

"Do you really need to go, Hinata-chan?" asked Naruto as he held his wife's hand securely as she nodded, "Why am I not needed here?"

"This is a Hyuga house meeting," explained the Hyuga girl as she planted a kiss on his cheek, "If something requires you to be present, Father would've called you to be involved."

"Are you sure that you're okay?" Naruto inquired again but his voice carried more concern knowing how sensitive she was when it came to Shani.

"Where is Shani-chan?" Hinata suddenly was the one who did the asking, "Don't tell me that he is out there right now…"

"I have been in the medical wards trying to resurrect as many soldiers as possible and aiding Tsunade with the healing. I was with you the entire time and moreover… I haven't seen him…" This did not make Hinata any happier but she didn't go angry. Instead, a tear wanted to shed from her eye but Naruto quickly wiped it away.

"I hope he is fine…" Hinata murmured sadly with her head down.

"I am sure he is just resting," assured Naruto hoping that this would help her, "Tsunade did say that he needed rest after all."

"I guess you're right…"

"Whatever happens in there, tell me afterwards, okay?"

"Okay…" replied Hinata trying to smile. When the Death Knight gave her a genuine smile -as if it was an influence- Hinata managed to smile back before she took his lips into a deep kiss. She always did that when she needed encouragement, and Naruto was someone who would give it to her until the very end. "I'll be going in now."

"Sure thing, Hinata," he said one last time before she opened the door and revealed Hanabi and Neji who were already inside for two seconds. Naruto gave both of them a nod before Hinata closed the door fully. Seeing that there was no point in staying any longer, the Death Knight gave out a small sigh before returning to his sector. He just hoped that there weren't any more casualties. Yeah, he would believe that when pigs fly. In a war, there would never be zero deaths.

Hinata took a seat next to her Father like in any major Hyuga household meeting when they needed her present. It had been a while since she had sat through a meeting. The very last one was Shani and Kagari were one month old, and they discussed about what kind of future they would have. Of course, the end of it all was Shani and Kagari live under the rules of freedom instead of needing to serve their loyalty to the Hyuga clan. Yamase was also lucky since Neji belonged to the Branch family and they would never need to be fully committed like the main house. To wrap it all up, Hinata's children and those in their generation were not shackled.

However, some of the elders were not satisfied about these new procedures. They believed that this noble clan should always have an heir who could take on the responsibilities in procreation, influence others to be strong, and other tasks in what a clan leader should be doing. Hiashi did a great job so far and it was supposed to be passed down to Hinata when she was eighteen. Of course, ever since she was married to Naruto, her fate was in Naruto's hands and there was an impossibility for Naruto to forfeit his wife to such rules and regulations. The elders soon wanted Shani to take on this role but Hinata battled her way to achieve her son's freedom. She was so grateful that day.

Today, she wondered what kind of subject they would be discussing. Surprisingly enough, there were only 8 people present; 4 elders, Hinata, Hiashi, Neji and Hanabi. Each meeting contained fewer people than the last, things must be getting more and more specific these days. Hinata had a bad feeling about this.

"Father…" Hinata whispered silently to Hiashi -who turned slightly to face her, "What is the meeting about? Why are there only eight of us?"

"I think you need to understand the situation here, my daughter," began Hiashi giving a small cough before continuing, "Neji, Hanabi, this news applies just as much to any one of us here." The other two Hyuga young adults paid attention immediately; curiosity was something that was a driving force in their lives. "Ever since yesterday, every clan, and every citizen in Konoha are decreasing in numbers. Many of the people in our clan have also suffered through death and the elders and I have proposed a plan to maintain the Hyuga bloodline running for the next generations.

"Personally, if we have our clan members marrying another to expand our clan numbers it would be fine. However, things are not showing as much promise anymore since our sudden decrease of members. And in order to maintain the Hyuga blood going, the elders have decided Shani and Yamase to marry someone within the clan. Shani is the oldest son of the heiress, and Yamase is the older daughter in the leader of the branch family. You two do not have to agree with it but you have think about the future of the Hyuga."

"Hiashi-sama," objected Neji -who really should be out there battling but this meeting got in the way. "How can the clan plan who my daughter should marry when she may have hearts for someone else? I can't do something as heartless as abolish her freedom."

"I agree with Neji-ni-san," added Hanabi defending Neji's point, "It's not right at all."

"We've discussed this before," said Hinata trying to recall their final decision twelve years ago, "My son and daughter would not be involved with such commitments. Are you trying to break it now? Forcing Shani-chan or Kagari-chan to an arranged marriage is the exact same thing as telling him that he does not have a right to guide his own life and love life. Father, you can't do this to him." Surprisingly enough, Hiashi only smiled understandingly and it confused the three to no end.

"I know, Hinata," said Hiashi with his hand on her shoulder. He was so stunned how young Hinata still looked when she was already 29. She looked no older than twenty after all these years, "I have no intention to break this promise. Shani and Yamase don't have to follow it if they don't want to, the clan is powerless in terms of trying to force them to decide. Yet, it wouldn't be forcing if they agree willingly now, would they?"

"I suppose not…" muttered the Anbu Captain under his breath while still trying to grasp what Hiashi was trying to say.

"I am sure Shani and Yamase would not mind at all," continued the current Hyuga heir confidently, "They have been knowing another for a long time now, they are perfect for another." Hinata and Neji's face seemed drained where as Hanabi had her hands covering her mouth trying to hide her shock, "Shani and Yamase would be the future for this clan-"

"I don't know…"

"Yamase would be delighted to hear it, Neji," said Hiashi, "Trust me." At normal circumstances, Hinata would consider incest to be wrong. It was wrong morally, yes, but to the Hyuga family or even the former Uchiha clan or Uzumaki clan, incest was not as improper as people imagined to be. To remain the noble bloodline pure and "other clan blood" free, Hyugas did "mate" with their own relatives as if it was normal. The only catch was that they can never procreate with siblings, but as long as they were as far as being cousins it was fine.

Research had proved that a child born by incest may have biological problems, this also applied for two people too close by blood. However, when it came to the Hyuga blood, that issue was not a concern. Neji and Hinata, despite their relationship, were supposed to marry another for the sake of the clan. Hinata was the heiress who obtained much of Naruto's skills, and Neji obviously was one who held the strongest Hyuga blood amongst anyone. They were perfect but since Hinata fell in love with Naruto, and Neji loved Tenten, their emotions became their dominant force in their decision making. In simpler terms, they could not follow such rules.

"Father…" Hinata choked out while still couldn't believe that this proposal was brought up, "Would Shani-chan… you know, willing to be engaged with Yamase?"

"Let's ask him that later, I am sure he wouldn't refuse."

Hinata, Neji, and Hanabi only sighed to themselves as the elders began to discuss about other topics. However, the only subject was on Hinata's mind –and even Neji's- was that engagement. What would happen if Shani refused? Or rather, how would he take it? Only time would tell, Hinata kept telling herself, only time would tell.

_**(Half an hour later, at the West Gate)**_

From what Kagari could gather at this moment, each Leaf Shinobi who arrived at the West Gate serving as reinforcements were all killed sooner or later the instant they engaged combat. Was the Sound that strong, or were they just plain weak? Although the Paladin lady wanted to do anything to curse out how badly those Leaf bastards sucked shit, she had no time to deal with it right now as Jiroubo continuously fired beams at her wings to make her crash land. Taking out her primary weapon –the beam daggers- she quickly dived down and slashed each beam into halves so she could create an opening. As Jiroubo figured out she had gotten too close, he quickly glided back and gave off a suppressing fire to make it unquestionably irritating for her to keep on.

Kagari gritted her teeth noticeably as the wave of firepower drastically increased. The girl even screamed out loud as two of his energy blasts struck her chest –hard.

Tayuya ascended to the skies before coming down with twice the speed she used to gain flight. With that charged up trident to become a blade that could nearly cut anything, the Sound girl clearly know what kind of devastating weapon she was holding. Emitting the same creepy battle scream like the one she did when she charged for her plasma lightning, she immediately slashed Shani vertically with immense strength.

Detecting her chakra signature long before she even noticed, Shani instantly moved back as the bladed part of the trident smashed the ground and leaving an undeniable dent. If Shani didn't move in time, his body would've easily been cut into two or even thirds. Aiming his spearheaded scythe at Tayuya dangerously, he immediately unleashed his Death Coil with intense speed. Much to his dismay, the Sound girl absorbed the attack by creating some kind of magnetic shield with electricity –the same method she used for her plasma to curve.

Shani didn't know how it she made it to work, but the fact was that it definitely saved her from his attack. Not thinking of wasting his precious chakra any longer, he immediately flew to her while slashing wildly.

Tayuya began to hesitate when her opponent's movements became closely unpredictable. She moved and blocked with her melee weapon with difficulty and she wanted to wail as Shani suddenly blasted beams like a wildfire shower. How did he get his strength from, Tayuya would really want to know that. In spite of that, after she swiped one assault and twisted a 360-degree turn, she smirked cockily when she managed to take out a kunai at that time. Skillfully, the girl violently whipped the steeled weapon at him and unfortunately for the Death Knight, it struck him badly at the left thigh.

Meanwhile, Kidoumaru took out his bow once again before unleashing multiples of chakra arrows –like Searing Arrows that Rin and Naruto both know- down at Asuran who was defending with his cleaver in a cornered scenario. Once the Uchiha destroyed all of them in two attacks, he pulled his beam weapon back before hurling it at Kidoumaru like a boomerang. To respond to such a bold attack, Kidoumaru hurriedly launched his spherical breaker to counter. To his surprise, his eyes widened with shock as the cleaver miraculously –as he would put it- came up higher than expected. To make it simpler to understand, Kidoumaru's counter was a dead miss.

On the ground, Asuran leaped back in a glide to evade before his feet were pierced off. In a coordinated fashion, he formed his Uncle's devastating fire technique: Dragon Fire no Jutsu. As Kidoumaru shifted to the left so the cleaver would whiz by him without dealing any unnecessary damage, he quickly retracted the spherical breaker to come back to his hand. Little did he know, a massive blaze of fire was shot directly at him. Taking more stamina to gain agility, he hurried flew back as the flames were a foot away from literally cooking him. As the second and third blast came at him, Kidoumaru couldn't help but curse as the heat nearly crisped up his skin –if that wasn't his our layer of skin, he would gladly indulge himself with it.

Everything tasted like chicken nowadays, right?

"Shit! This bastard is getting annoying!" the East nin yelled regardless of the circumstance as he fell back.

At the same time, Jiroubo was still persistently trying to shoot down Kagari who was coming down rather too quickly for his taste –obviously he had trouble catching her. Jiroubo simply flinched as each of his attacks were deflected, reflected, destroyed, or evaded. Once the angelic Paladin past by through him without attacking since she wasn't organized enough, Jiroubo grunted with annoyance knowing that she was as quick as ever. If that was the case, he knew that not one single attack hit her. He would go all out physical but he was too sluggish.

"She went behind me?" he inquired silently but suddenly felt this strange feeling in his body. He winced as he felt his chest and heartbeat; they were beating a tad bit too quick. This only meant one thing; he was lacking chakra. "Kuso kono baka medicine pill," Jiroubo shouted angrily with the will to blame, "The recovered chakra is nearly all used up already!" Kidoumaru heard his complains and merely smiled teasingly as he prepared to attack Asuran.

"You are too wasteful, baka!" commented the arachnid male playfully but not necessarily encouraging.

"How dare you!" Jiroubo retorted back flaring up.

Kidoumaru ignored him for now as he chased and shot out three webs at the retreating Asuran –who was in flight. Although he missed, he knew he would get him eventually, "You can go back alone if you want to," said Kidoumaru still smirking, "I don't even care." It was then when he looked up front again and the Uchiha was not even here any more. Instead, Asuran just seized the opportunity to jump high with his cleaver above his head ready to strike.

"Die!" roared the Uchiha with his words dripping venom as he came down already using the beamed part of the weapon to attack. He wanted to end it now. Knowing that he had no time to evade, all Kidoumaru could do was halt hastily and use the closest thing he owned as a shield. The first object that came to that category was his spherical breaker. Although Asuran was disappointed that he missed his perfect chance to kill Kidoumaru, it was fortunate that he cleanly sliced that annoying spiked cannon ball in half and it blew up after that. That disadvantage just make Kidoumaru retreat back and of course leaving him cursing as each passing second went by.

"You're the idiot, dumbass!" Jiroubo declared in an insulting manner.

"What did you say?" questioned Kidoumaru angrily but suddenly Jiroubo grabbed his left wrist when he didn't know that his leader flew by him. By the looks of it, Jiroubo seemed to be running away from the battlefield while almost crushing his arm with unbelievable strength, "Don't grab on and drag me anywhere as you please, bastard!" the East Sound ninja remarked roughly.

"Shut up!" scolded the leader trying to talk some sense into Kidoumaru, "We got to get out of here so we can recover! Do you want to continue fighting looking like that with no weapons or chakra?"

"Damn…" Despite how much that would scar his pride, Kidoumaru couldn't deny that fact for they were opening too many gates of weakness for the opponent to pass through. At the same moment, Kagari heard everything from the above, and she would never allow them to escape when they were in such a weak state. Letting them go now would be a disgrace that she would need to carry for the rest of her life until her career ended. Or maybe, she would mess up her entire future career as a shinobi before it began. Nonetheless, she wouldn't let this break to be ignored.

"I won't let you!" shouted Kagari as she engaged them directly in front –still flying- and shot out a wave of Mana Flare at the duo who were coming her way. As the beams struck Kidoumaru and Jiroubo painfully, the arachnid male scowled fiercely before shooting out a web string and attaching it to her arm. With one violent pull, Kagari's onslaught was ceased instantly and in addition to that, Kidoumaru forcefully yanked her and whirled her to the rear where Asuran was coming from. Asuran gasped as his angel collided into him very ungracefully. Also, this sudden halt gave the Sound nins the time they needed to escape. Normally they would kill of Kagari and Asuran right now but they simply had no strength to pull anything off.

Elsewhere, Tayuya took out her flute from her back pocket and attempted to play one of her serenades. Turning himself at the right and upside down, in a wild combination Shani reached out his palm before casting a Mana Burn aiming at her face knowing what happened last time when she played that 'innocent' instrument. The Death Knight had a very vivid memory of the outcome on their previous clash.

As of result, Tayuya's flute was the thing that was hit and due to the force of the Mana Burn, the instrument turned into pieces. Crap was all she could say. Just as she wanted to kill him for doing such a thing to her precious flute, she suddenly noticed something was happening to her body.

Her eyes wanted to shriek –of course her eyes can't scream- when she found out what it was: chakra drainage. This was indeed a significant blow for her.

"It's over?" she asked herself knowing that she could not even form basic jutsus any longer. It was then when she looked over to her left slightly and found out Kidoumaru and Jiroubo were already leaving the battleground. With her against all three of them, she wouldn't stand a chance. Regardless of the lacking the knowledge of how powerful Asuran was Tayuya safely assumed that he was also something to be feared of or her comrades wouldn't be falling back. What made her worry even more was that Kagari and that Uchiha were drawing near.

Shani, while noticing his opponent was distracted, he instantaneously pulled his scythe with fury in a striking position before rushing at Tayuya wanting to kill. Snapping out of her thoughts a second before she was swiped, Tayuya glided back slightly before attacking with her trident from the right using all her might. Much to her disbelief, Shani's left devil wing took all the impact -and skillfully too. Also, to worsen the situation for her, he locked it so she couldn't pull it back.

If she didn't let go her of trident, Shani would slice her and more than likely to kill her. The Sound lady had to decide right then and there or she would regret it. Therefore, just seconds before the scythe struck her head, she released the grip of her trident slightly so she could evade. Shani may have flinched at her swiftness but furthermore he was enraged when she even managed to pull out her weapon before taking off towards the outskirts in an escape.

The last look on her face that she gave him was surprisingly frightening, Shani never seen such hatred being displayed by anyone, it was even worse than the time he battled Chaos. Shaking that memory out of his head, he turned his head and found Kagari and Asuran landed next to him in a tired fashion. They watched the horizon as they took in deep breaths to cool off, and even Shani panted a bit himself. He was quite wearied as well but his pride refused to show any weakness.

"Shani," said Asuran as he put a hand on his shoulder, "You alright?" The Death Knight only grunted silently as he looked at his left leg. Kagari gasped loudly when she saw the kunai was still stuck in his flesh. The little sister soon kneeled down but her brother stopped her. Shani then forcefully pulled it out without thinking, he also winced a little as of result. Kagari pitied his pain no matter if it was great or small. As a matter of fact, it was great.

"You're bleeding badly!" complained Kagari as she examined her brother's leg immediately and she wouldn't take no for an answer, "I got to heal it!" To her surprise, Shani nodded in approval and allowed her to start her treatment. Giving a delighted expression, the Uzumaki girl quickly formed a set of unique hand seals but just as when Shani noticed what she was doing and wanted to stop her… however, it was already too late.

"Holy Light!" she announced as the bright, divine light shined on Shani. The initial plan was to use it to heal Shani but since she forgot he was a Death Knight, it only did harm –or rather unbelievable harm. The Forbidden child screamed as his eyes were blind and his body suffered from immense pain. In a very un-Shani like manner, he twitched, stumbled, and yelled before falling down unconscious. Asuran shook his head with a sigh as Kagari laughed nervously at what she had done; Mother and Father would not be pleased to hear this.

Nonetheless, the remaining duo took the young Death Knight by the arms before taking him back to base.

**_(Currently at the outskirts of Konoha)_**

"Tayuya, Jiroubo, and Kidoumaru are coming back," announced a Sound medic to Akira. The Paladin's eyes opened up just slightly to show that he had some recognition to this news. As the trio entered back into the infirmary, they didn't dare look at Akira, and the Paladin knew why they would believe so. Unknown to the trio, Akira was not one bit angry at them, although he may be disappointed that the Uzumaki twins were not killed as ordered, the Paladin knew what kind of damages the West Gate suffered just now. What he witnessed pleased him greatly for the West end was completely destroyed with corpses beyond imaginable.

"Akira-sama…" said Kidoumaru very humbly and with evident fear, "We are deeply sorry for not able to kill them…"

"We are willing to accept any punishment," said Jiroubo kneeling but he certainly found it surprising when Tayuya was already on her knees begging for forgiveness. Even if she may not be grabbing Akira's feet like a vassal, her expression of guilt was greater than anyone of them combined.

"Akira-sama…" the strawberry blond hair girl on the team spoke with pure humility and humiliation for her defeat, "You can do whatever with us for punishment… even if you don't want to give us the antidote… We would understand…"

"Tayuya!" hissed the male with six arms not believing that his teammate was suggesting the ultimate punishment as their very first choice of torment. If they didn't have their antidote, they were better off dead than alive!

"What?" she questioned him softly, "We failed, we messed up, that's all we deserve…"

"What are you three saying?" questioned Akira eyeing the three elites not understanding the reason of their behaviour. He couldn't help but smiled amusedly at them. Tayuya's face was priceless, she merely blinked twice at what Akira could be smiling about, "You three did great out there."

"But, we…"

"You didn't get those demons?" questioned Akira cutting her off, "Yes, it's a bit disappointing to know that they are still alive." The trio looked very disgusted when Akira reminded them of that fact. Kidoumaru formed his hand into a fist remembering what Asuran did at the last second before he left, how dare he destroy his spherical breaker and make him look like a newbie in combat? The next time they meet, Kidoumaru sworn to kill him for good, "However, you three practically annihilated the West Gate."

"We did?" asked Jiroubo amazed at what he was hearing. How did that happen, he wondered.

"Maybe you three didn't notice it, but Konoha had lost at least double of what we lost today. You three successfully thinned out their forces dramatically, Orochimaru would be delighted to hear this."

"But, the demons-" argued Tayuya but she was silenced when Akira a finger at her lips. She blushed noticeably when she felt his touch.

"That would be between the four of us," justified the Paladin giving them a strong sense of security, "All that sannin needs to know is that your initial attack was successful. I am going to give you guys your antidote now. Go have some rest in your resting room until further orders, okay? I got things to report." With that said, the young Paladin handed them three small bottles that contained the sweet syrup which could cure their drug.

After consuming it in less than two seconds, the elites did as they were told and entered their designated resting room. All was inside were three beds; three sinks at the walls; several barriers for limited privacy for privacy wasn't an issue Orochimaru cared about despite Tayuya being a girl amongst them.

"I can't believe it…" Kidoumaru said as he plopped onto the bed lazily, "I can't believe that we actually have to retreat… again…"

"It can't be helped now, can it?" questioned Jiroubo rhetorically as he sat on the mattress, "We would've been killed back there if we weren't careful enough."

"What would've happened if we didn't even meet the basic requirement that Akira-sama asked from us?" asked the arachnid male as he looked up to the ceiling while lying on his back, "Do you think…"

"He does have a right to not give us the antidote…"

"I am tired from these battles," stated Kidoumaru suddenly catching Tayuya's attention as well for a second before she turned away elsewhere to do her own thing on the bed –which was just staring at nothing and daydream. She even then took off her shirt to free herself from any body odours although her teammates were around. She didn't really care as long as her undergarments covered her for Kidoumaru and Jiroubo treated many of her injuries before, it wasn't like they haven't seen anything before. Even now, Kidoumaru and Jiroubo couldn't believe how Tayuya truly looked under all those clothing. Despite how beautiful she may be, they didn't dare look at her for Tayuya was still a girl and the last thing they wanted was for her to kill them both for being idiots.

"Who isn't?" answered the leader still not looking at Tayuya's form.

"Do we still need to continue fighting against that village Konoha?"

"Judging from Akira-sama and Orochimaru-sama, both of them seem to quite anxious for that place to burn down. Besides, it's not important for us to worry about the outcome of this operation; all we need to worry is ourselves. It's either to kill or be killed. It's been two days, Kidoumaru, and that place still isn't in a blaze…"

"We still haven't lost yet, you know!" the arachnid male argued as he sat up straight. He soon blushed when he saw Tayuya in very short shorts with a tanktop that only reached her torso. The way she was lying down was a sign of temptation. She looked sexy, that was the only word Kidoumaru could use for this situation. Jiroubo knew what his friend was looking at but he was too deep in thought to care.

"You are too naïve…" continued the leader of the squad, "We lost when we haven't won, and the only way to consider ourselves victorious is to kill off everyone that Akira-sama or Orochimaru-sama tells us. That applies to Orochimaru especially for he is someone who would never accept failure, you know that just as much as anyone of us, right?"

"Yeah…" finished Kidoumaru before he looked away to think about what his leader said in a serious manner. Tayuya wasn't listening to begin with, and it was soon when her surprisingly peaceful mood made her start to hum a song eloquently before she started singing it herself. Her voice was beautiful indeed, and it was always her singing and sudden calmness that made them relax. In spite her bossy self, Jiroubo and Kidoumaru sometimes did find their anti-social comrade to be quite enjoyable at times. They just hoped she was always like that.

_**(At the encampment back at Konoha)**_

Naruto –after escorting Hinata to her meeting- knew that Shani and Kagari were not here at the base. The only assumption the assassin could think of was that they must've headed out to the West Gate to intercept whoever was there. He clearly knew those Three elites showed up at that end and over half of the shinobis that Tsunade sent out there were killed for only a small portion of them came back alive. It didn't take a genius to figure out the piles of carcasses that would be there at this time. Naruto just hoped that Shani and Kagari would return soon. If they were dead, he wouldn't know how to break that news to his lovely wife.

As if it was on cue, Naruto heard someone called him from afar. He turned around slightly and smiled when he saw Hinata run to him. Naruto was always happy to see her wherever and whenever it was. Once the Hyuga girl tackled him into an embrace, Naruto cuddled her head and ran his fingers through her unbelievably silky hair, she only giggled lightly to respond.

"You okay?" asked Naruto curiously as he broke the hug with her.

"Somewhat…" she replied gently.

"What did you discuss about?" Naruto inquired wanting to know.

"It's about Shani actually…" Hinata told him in a vague way. The Death Knight raised a brow with a bit of surprise, what would the clan be discussing about? When Naruto gave her that look, Hinata knew he didn't understand fully, she might as well explain it to him with more detail. "It's like this, Naruto… my Father just proposed this idea… I don't know if you like it or not though…"

"You are better off telling me, we would never know."

"Okay… Father suggested that Shani –since he has the Byakugan stronger than Kagari- to marry someone within the clan as an arranged marriage. He said that it was for the sake of the clan since many of our clan members have been killed during these past several days. In order for the Byakugan bloodline to be past on, it is best for Shani to be married with someone that holds his primary bloodline limit…" Hinata paused for a second and checked the reaction Naruto gave her, the girl gave a sigh when he didn't show any disapproval or agreement, he merely took everything in as if it was normal.

"How do you feel about it, Hinata-chan?" asked Naruto a second later without much anger.

"Of course I don't want to shackle Shani-chan's future!" she protested immediately but there was a sense of control present, "But at the same time who Father suggested Shani to marry isn't a bad choice. I think Shani would even want to consider it…"

"The only rational person for Shani would naturally be Yamase," stated Naruto as Hinata's eyes went wide. Curse him for being so sharp all the time, she didn't even say who it was and Naruto already figured everything out, "She has the Byakugan, she is the same age as Shani, I am sure she even likes Shani…"

"I know that," said Hinata shortening his sentence for now, "But do you want Shani to marry her?"

"I wouldn't mind that much if Shani wants to marry her, they have been knowing each other ever since they were born… I am sure Shani would learn to love her. However, if Shani doesn't want to take on this role but your clan members do force him to, then I will clearly object. Do you mind that Yamase is the… you know."

"A little bit…" Hinata retorted biting her lip lightly, "I really don't want Shani-chan to believe that I am forcing him or rather people forcing him to do anything even though he may have the heart to do it himself. You know him, Naruto, he likes doing things alone."

"We just have to ask him when he comes back, right?" Hinata instantly caught his words, her facial expression did not looked content about it. Naruto gulped knowing he said something wrong, "I know what you're thinking," pleaded the Death Knight making an emotional safety barrier. "I am sure Shani and Kagari believe that what they need to accomplish what is needed to be done… they are doing it for the sake of the village. Like what Shani said last night, you should trust him more." Hinata shook her head slightly before giving off another moan of slight exasperation.

"I know Shani-chan and Kagari-chan are fine," said Hinata with a weak grin, "I do detect their presence after all. If I know them, they should coming right around now…" As if on cue, Hinata and Naruto suddenly heard someone from a distance shouting out their names but recognizing them as kaa-chan and otousan, they knew that it must be Kagari for it was a girl.

"Kagari… and Asuran?" Naruto mumbled confusedly when he found out Asuran was with them, the only assumption Naruto had in mind was that the young Uchiha went out as well. He observed Asuran's body in three seconds, and looked worriedly at him when he found out Asuran's left arm was half dangling as if he was injured. Although it was clearly nothing too serious, Itachi would be worried when he found out.

"Kagari-chan, Asuran-chan!" greeted Hinata as she approached them in a relieved voice, "I am so glad that you two are alright." Just as she wanted to hug them both like any loving mother would, Hinata stopped when she figured out who was in between them unconscious. It was her son, Shani. How he became unconscious was unknown to her but she wanted a reason.

"How did your brother…" Hinata began calmly but deeply concerned for her little boy, "Did he get hurt badly, Kagari-chan?" She began to kneel down at her level as the kids released the Death Knight into her arms before the Hyuga girl carefully embraced her son's sleeping form. She hadn't done this for ages, how she nearly forgot the memories of being a young mother.

"He was just tired before…" replied Kagari with her finger to her lips trying to cover her embarrassment, "Then I tried to heal him… using Holy Light…" Hearing upon that response, Naruto's eyes opened with interest, Asuran sighed while shaking his head, and Hinata laughed with amusement. The Hyuga heiress' previous worried instantly vanished.

"Was that all?" asked Hinata still trying to control her chuckling. She remembered how dramatic her son reacted to the divine light when he was a child, he was afraid of it and he would practically yell and scream when he experienced it. It would be considered entertainment if he was only faking the pain but Hinata knew it actually did hurt him quite a bit, "You tried to wake him up, Kagari-chan?"

"Yes," the angel girl said back promptly, "I tried hitting him on the cheek, shaking him, blowing in his ear, licking his face, kissing his cheek, hugging him tightly, kissing his forehead… I have done everything!"

"Obviously you didn't do everything," corrected Hinata with a smile, "If you did, he would be awake by now." She then skillfully brought Shani's sleeping head in front of hers. At that moment, Hinata kissed him directly on the lips in a very motherly fashion. Immediately, the young Death Knight'e eye widened with stun and instantly pulled away with a very heavy blush on his cheeks. It wasn't everyday that he got kissed by one of the most gorgeous woman he knew kissed him with such affection. What was a boy starting his adolescence supposed to feel.

"Mother…" groaned Shani in a very timid manner. Despite that he liked to be kissed, his pride forbade him to say it out loud.

"There, you're awake now." Hinata stated cheerfully as she hugged her son again, "Glad that you made it back here." Shani was surprised at his mother, after all the things he had said last night, she was still willing to kiss him, to hug him. He would've never did that if he was the Father, what ailed her to display her love so constantly without hoping to gain anything back? What Forbidden said was right, if she never had any care for him, she wouldn't love him and forgive anything that he had done. Shani just felt so stupid and just turned his head away in shame and moral disgust. Hinata tilted her head innocently wondering what could be bothering him.

"I'm sorry…" Shani mumbled while seething his words thus making it barely audible to the ear.

"What?" asked Hinata holding him closer trying to cheer him up a bit. Her smile made the young Forbidden child regret even more than before.

"I said I am sorry… I am sorry for what I said to you yesterday…" repeated Shani not wanting to restate his statement more than once or even elaborate on how he was feeling, "I was just angry that you yelled at me after I tried my best out there…" Hinata only smiled at him with understanding before pulling her son into a deep embrace once more. The boy was speechless yet he allowed it anyway.

"It's okay, Shani-chan," cooed Hinata to his ear as she stroked his hair with care, "It's kaa-chan's fault too for not believing and lacking so much faith in you… I really thought I was a bad mother and I was just too harsh on you. I am so sorry, Shani-chan, I really am…"

"Thank you for forgiving me, Mother…" he told her in a whisper, "I thank-"

"Yay!" cheered Kagari suddenly as she took both her brother and mother in a very passionate hug, "We are a family again! I am so happy!" Naruto gave out a small grin and Asuran as well. It looked like things were heading towards the right direction again, solving one problem was definitely better than dealing with none he supposed. Even though Naruto would want every possible dispute and crisis to end, he just remembered the news Hinata told him earlier. How was his son going to take it? In addition, how could Hinata tell him? The emotion called concerned quickly roamed around a second time, why couldn't this world just get a bit easier so their lives would be happier?

Asuran was no ignorant boy, he soon grasped something was wrong when Naruto decided to remain silent when his family was clearly rejoicing over their previous family conflict. He knew he was in no position to question what the Death Knight's trouble may be but Asuran was undoubtedly curious to know. He shouldn't pry into other people's business, he knew that much, yet when it came to his admirer (Kagari), and his best friend (Shani), it was human emotion to have basic concerns. Moreover, he wondered if the news would crush the family once more, the young Uchiha just prayed to himself nothing would go wrong. One of the last things he wanted to witness with his own very eyes was a frowning Kagari.

His hopes of not truly want to know the facts were destroyed –much to his dismay- when Shani's sharpness conquered any other emotion in his mind. Sometimes, the Uchiha sure wanted to kill Shani for being so vigilant.

"What's with otousan?" questioned the one eyed Byakugan kid with neutrality all smeared in his voice, "He seems concerned…" That moment of time, Hinata suddenly recalled the news that she needed to tell him. Despite her lack of preparation to use the most accurate words, Hinata knew she had no time to simply stall and wait. Shani would know eventually and his reaction would be worse if they intended to hide something vital from him. Hinata and Naruto do not fear Shani of course, nevertheless they simply –as parents- hide things from their children. Kagari soon paid close attention too, even she had her own thoughts flowing in her head.

"What's wrong, kaa-chan?" asked Kagari sweetly with a smile not believing anything was troubled.

"Shani," Hinata said around three seconds later. The two Uzumaki kids and Asuran raised a brow knowing Hinata never needed to procrastinate with her responses. She only did that when the importance of her words or the issue was much greater than she predicted, "Do you mind if we talk for a second?" That had the Death Knight fairly confused.

"Mother?" Shani asked not understanding this at all despite his sharpness.

"I have something very important that you need to know…" Hinata told them seriously as Shani continued to look at his mother with the most confused face he had ever made during the twelve years of his life...

_(To increase the dramatic effect, if you have **Life Goes On** or **Reason** –both Seed Destiny Ending Themes, please play it.)_

**_AN: It's just really me to leave you all at another cliffhanger. I suppose this helps me to remind myself that I have a fiction to complete. When I read my work over again at times, I even start hating myself for making such a blasted cliff. It can't be helped now, can it? It's better to leave you all at suspense than leave it peaceful and satisfying. I can be just that evil at times… Thank you all so much for lasting this long with my OCs, normally I would really hate to read them but I suppose I made it easier for myself for making such contrast with the existing Seed characters. Regardless, thank you all for spending your time to read my "creation" although I really don't believe it to be that great. Anyway, please take care yourselves out there, I hope to read your comments one day._**


	7. Concealed Darkness

_**Downfall of the Light 3**_

_Chapter 7: Concealed Darkness_

Legend:

"…": Speech

'…': Thoughts, and they could be listed in italics alone unless specifically specified.

Major scene changes are listed in bolded italic brackets.

**_AN: At long last, I have updated this. While this fic was being postponed –and me taking a break, hey, had anyone seen the Have a Break Have a KitKat commercial-, I was busy working with other fics such as the epilogue of Downfall of the Light 2, and my Seed fic Believe, Realize, Reason. Despite all this, it doesn't mean that I have forgotten about this fiction. In all honesty, I am someone who intends to tie up all loose ends if they need to be tied up. I am very sorry for this 2 month delay update, inspiration had not really come to me during these two months since I was not watching Naruto at all. Instead, I moved on with Seed, Bleach, Tsubasa Chronicles, Ai Yori Aoshi, Seed Destiny, School Rumble, and most importantly, Ichigo 100 percent. _**

**_You can say these anime series gave me the action, romantic, and somewhat perverted ideas to write this chapter. I am sure you intelligent readers out there would detect this eventually. You are what you eat, right?_**

**_It also has come to my attention that a vast majority of you believe that my fic is very weird. If my OCs are the issue, or you think the storyline itself is just fucked up beyond all recognition, feel free to tell me, but tell me what you want to be improved on. In all honesty, I know this story isn't all out liked, but I will continue it. Who knows why I am continuing although many would not support it, all I know is as long as I am not the author of (Insert Famous Fanfic here), no one gives a fuck if I produce fics or not. Although I do not live for reviews, but the due to the incredible lack of support, the chapter numbers would be cut short without question. _**

**_I am sorry to say this, but Seed reviewers actually give me the message that they truly give a fuck about my work. I don't write for specific people, but if I don't find any meaning for me to continue, hey, why bother wasting more of my time? Sadly to say, Believe Realize Reason is a lot more entertaining for me to write._**

**_Oh yes, I also write one-shots if anyone requests. Just no yaoi pairings, but I will attempt at any pairing that is straight. Give me a conflict and a specific pairing, and I would start on it (if I pick yours to do). Give me your email, too, so I could contact you personally. I like challenges after all._**

**_Now, to prevent confusion, allow me to list the OCs that I have and their relations with the existing cast._**

**_Uzumaki Shani_** and **_Uzumaki Kagari_** are **_Naruto_** and **_Hinata's_** children.

**_Uchiha Asuran_** is **_Itachi_** and **_Ayame's_** son.

**_Hyuga Yamase_** is **_Neji_** and **_Tenten's_** daughter.

**_Uchiha Kuroto_** and **_Uchiha Umi _**are **_Sasuke_** and **_Sakura's_** children.

**_Kamishiro Hikaru_** (who barely shows up) is **_Rin _**and **_Gaara's _**son.

**_Nara Tsubasa_** is **_Shikamaru_** and **_Ino's_** daughter.

**_Tayuya_**, **_Kidoumaru_**, **_Jiroubo_**… these are the main antagonists so far in this series, and they are not my OCs.

**_Forbidden_** is **_Shani's_** demon master.

**_Chaos_** is **_Kagari's_** demon mistress/master.

_**Without further adieu, allow me to do some one on one interactions with you readers. It has been a long while after all. What I am trying to say is, let's begin a Reviewers' Period.**_

**Dragon Man 180:** I have to give it to you, you are one sharp reader. You sort of predict the things before they happen, or maybe I am just making it too obvious. Regardless, you are very sharp, and I admire that in a person. The Three do have decency, well, it sucks being biological weapons and your sole existence is to kill, kill, and kill. I suppose I pity them, and even in the anime we get to see them as slaves but they know how to fight. At the same time, I just want to emphasize on the pitiful life of a Natural Extended in Seed and Seed Destiny, these antagonists are good to study. Thank you so much for reviewing every single time, you have my gratitude.

**Joecool4:** I am very tired of writing Naruto fighting, and I am tired of ninjutsu fighting in general. Everyone likes original jutsus, they like their Japanese names and all that shit… and I am like, fuck this. I ain't a Japanese boy, so why bother trying to use that language to translate the name? As far as I am concerned, I am not that much of a dedicated Naruto lover, I like their characters, but not the story line. Sorry if this is not what you asked, I just felt like telling you. In case you are wondering, this is why I switched from ninjutsu to just beams and energy firing.

**Warprince2000:** Not trying to be rude or anything… I do not even know how I am supposed to respond to you review since you write the same thing every time. I am glad that you like it, yes, but it would be great to see you typing something else than "Cool story, update soon plz". No offence or anything, but that kind of reviewing tells the author that you might not have actually read the work and you are reviewing for the sake of it.

**AnimeFan-Angel:** Thanks for your concern, fellow reader. No, I don't think your previous review was anything offensive or selfish. As far as I am concerned, I want honesty instead of trickery. Since you want me to continue so much, I have made this chapter, it took me a several weeks to gather inspirations, hope you like it. Oh yeah, if this chapter is out, it's pretty obvious that I got my stuff (inspiration) back… well, I don't know what to do for chapter 8 though. Thanks for reviewing, but don't feel like that you're obligated to.

**Nonegel:** Since I didn't want to force myself into this, that is why it took me so long to relax and reflect a bit. Well, I am back once again (at least for the time being), and I truly hope that you would enjoy this chapter as always. I worked hard on it, I wish it would really pay off.

**Sephynarutocloud:** Yeah, it's okay to be mean… just don't do it again. I will gladly hear your suggestions at your next review if you do write one that is.

**Gold Case:** Yeah, Akira is a nice man, but a very dangerous nice man. I know it doesn't really make sense if he joined the Sound for the sake of killing Naruto and his family, but he knows that he can't do it alone since Konoha is on their side. Despite how badly I want to challenge some people in life, I can't be a one-man army and fight alone.

Corny means cheesy, and cheesy does not get me anywhere. Yet, if Naruto or Hinata does say something like that… this fic would become live action instead of a book. Then it would be really gay, and soon I would suffer from concussions because you people would stone me to death for writing such garbage.

Believe me, I really do love to see Shani and Kagari as a pairing, but unfortunately, I made them siblings. However, she still kisses him on the lips, so I will let you perverts or anyone else out there use your imagination. I don't need to purge images into your minds, I know you can do it quite well yourselves. I also like ShaniUmi together, hope you like this chapter!

**D.D Designator:** You are an amazing guy who knows what to say to brighten my day. Please, I really want to thank you.

**DaveBoo1378:** Thanks for supporting me for so long up to this point. Hey, I still want to talk to you on MSN sometime, hope you can make time eventually when you are less busy.

**FiresofDarkness:** Um… you reviewed quite a bit… I don't even know how I should answer your questions… I am glad that you like Shani, but more importantly, thanks for your endless praise. About your question, I would say that Akira will fight Naruto eventually for obvious reasons. Just wait patiently for that chapter to take place.

**UndyingPower:** Okay, I am back, I hope that cheers you up!

**WhiteReflection **and** IcE In ThE DePtH:** Your endless compliments make my day. I am not that good, am I?

**Thedark1owns:** I won't call you a retard, why would I? As much as I like to insult people at times, I am retarded at times, so who am I to judge you? I think I do an okay job at the illustrations of the action, I kind of think it's only averagely simple to understand. Despite what you may think, I think I am nasty at writing. Of course, if I updated this chapter, that means I don't want to leave you hanging –or anyone else in particular. So, do me a big favour and enjoy this chapter like you always did in the past. Thank you!

**Akane-chan:** I talk to you on MSN more than enough, I am certain you know more about this fic than anyone else I can list… other than OAD… or some others… anyway, BE A SEED DESTINY FANATIC LIKE ME! JOIN US! LOL!

**Naruto-fanfic:** Shani was not dressed up as Forbidden. My inspiration of Forbidden –at least the name- came from GAT-X252 Forbidden Gundam. Shani would not be dressed as a mobile suit. Who he was dressed as was Shani Andras, the actual character I got my Shani from. You aren't that mad that I have been slowing down, have you? Come on, be reasonable, I got my own life to attend to as well. Well, I got this thing up, so don't get mad anymore, okay? Thanks!

**FrostRevenant:** Why do you think Shani is going to go nuts? I don't know, but you have good instincts! I agree, it has been long, and damn hell I want you to read this! Come on, enjoy it for me.

**Iladarii:** Why do I persist? I don't know, maybe because I want to show people that I can become better. I am quite bitter at the fact that some people can get recognition without trying while others need to work like a fool to get an ounce of it. I am angry, yet I want to write. I don't mind if you hate me or any other Naruto fanfic author –although I find your hate kind of strange unless you tell me what drives you to hate them. For the amount of time of being a member here… I don't recall doing anything to you nor tried to ignore you. If you don't approach me, I would not know how to talk to you since I cannot go around assuming people like my work or they want to befriend me. If you really want to talk to me to know me, hey, go right on ahead. I won't bite –I kill-, and I would be glad to understand your hatred. At the same time, I don't know how my fiction had redeemed that lost hope, whatever it was, I certainly hope that feeling blooms again. Thanks so much for your review, I needed it to clear up my mind.

**BillyG:** Okay, why do you think that I would think of you as a retard if you review? It's absolutely okay to ask me questions, that's what I am here for. If you review, you make my day, and I don't consider my readers idiots unless they make themselves one. From your words, I don't think that you don't know how to review, you just had a lot to ask me –which I am glad to answer.

Kimimaro –the bone manipulator- is still alive, but he would show up until something happens to the current Sound Three. Why do you think that Akira is Naruto's father? Did I mention Naruto's father's name in any of my fictions before? If I did, then no, Akira is not Naruto's father, but he is someone who has Uzumaki blood. You want the three to live… wow, finally, someone with some sympathy and understanding! I kind of wished that Clotho, Oruga, and Shani lived in Seed, but those creators killed them! NO! Anyway, your review was much appreciated.

_**AN: What, you are still here? Get on with the story!**_

**_(At the outskirts of Konoha, or better known as the Sound's temporary headquarters)_**

"Akira-sama!" greeted Tayuya with delight as the handsome Paladin entered their resting chambers. She got off her bed as quickly as her legs could carry her, and immediately gave a low, respective, honourable bow. "It's a pleasure to see you." Akira smiled, he clearly knew Tayuya was doing this sincerely. At the same time, Kidoumaru and Jiroubo shifted off their beds, and gave a slight bow as respect.

"No need to be so formal with me, you three," Akira told them understandingly, moving his hand upward signaling them to stand. "Come on, stand up."

"Yes, Akira-sama." The three then stood up tall to look at him directly.

"Did you guys rest well?"

"Very well," answered Tayuya with a beautiful voice. Her gentleness even rivaled her talents in music.

"It was a pleasure." Kidoumaru added to support.

"Because of your graceful kindness, we actually had good rest." Jiroubo finished as his role of being the leader.

"That's very good to hear," said the Paladin a little regretfully, "But I am afraid your freetime must come to an end." The Three just watched with attentiveness, they had no plans to interrupt the Paladin's great speech. "Orochimaru has new orders for you three." To his surprise, the elites did not seem to mind at all.

"We are glad to serve the Sound," replied Tayuya with heavy profoundness.

"It's our duty," Jiroubo told Akira firmly.

"We will do anything." Kidoumaru stated to finish. What Akira noticed in their words was that they never stated out loud that they would serve Orochimaru, just the Sound. In other words, they do not have much of a liking towards the sannin. To be honest, if they could be free from the Grypheptan drug, Akira was certain that they would've left ages ago. Who would want to be a biological weapon knowingly? A little awkwardly, Akira rubbed his hands together, still managing a put up a grin. Friendliness was the best approach, he supposed.

"What are your orders?" the gorgeous flute enchanter asked humbly.

"Orochimaru has ordered that you three to head west." Akira began to explain somewhat in a choke, yet he somehow gathered strength in his voice again, "Your destination is a route in between the Sand and Konoha." As expected, the Three were confused to no end. It looked like some more elaboration was required.

"What?" Kidoumaru questioned, cocking a brow.

"Why would you want us to go to a place in the middle of nowhere?" the chubby elite inquired, equally lost.

"Oh, be quiet," snapped Tayuya rudely to her comrades, "Akira-sama must have a reason!" If she was a female student at a typical high school, she would be the ideal suck-up. Akira could imagine her saying "If the face on the current currency was ceased to exist, Akira-sama's face should now be on it for the betterment of mankind". The blond Paladin did nothing but smile, and Tayuya –being all innocent and adorable- tilted her head slightly to the right questioningly. "Akira-sama?"

"What? What?" the Paladin returned his mind back to reality a little farfetched. He even scratched his head with eyes turning into slits. In simpler terms, kind of a foxy look but without that annoying grin. "Did you say something?"

"You kind of dozed off…" stated Kidoumaru dryly trying to fight a laugh from escaping.

"Can you tell us our objective?" Jiroubo suggested in a bored tone. As far as he was concerned, he hated being ignorant.

Akira was glad Jiroubo changed the subject to get him off the hook despite he was not doing it for his sake. Suffering from utter humiliation was not something the Paladin was looking forward to. Giving out a small fake cough, the blond Paladin reluctantly continued. "Your mission this time is to cut out the reinforcements that may be heading to Konoha in the near future. Intelligence has it that the current Kazekage has very close relations with two demons in Konoha, and also has strong connections with the Godaime. In other words, the Sand and Konoha are like one country. We have successfully made a blitzkrieg strategy on Konoha so the Sand was not able to send in their troops in time to save them. However, it has been three days now, and yet this damned village is still here… you know that this is the perfect time to send in reinforcements, right?"

"So what you're saying is…" began Kidoumaru, smirking with much amusement, "Cut off their additional troops before they arrive?"

"And we can do whatever we want with them, right?" Jiroubo was now carrying devious grin. It would be wonderful.

"Do as you will," said Akira knowing that the Three were pleased with this task. "Just don't make that much commotion to alert the Konoha shinobis. With their numbers in such a decreased state, we would want their numbers to remain this low… or lower. Do you realize what I am saying?"

"Of course. I understand completely." Tayuya acknowledged it with her eyes now as cold as ice. The squad leader and the arachnid subordinate also nodded but not without their expressions changing one-eighty degrees. To Akira, it was undoubtedly a disturbing sight to witness how his closest comrades could get this excited to terminate people, yet later on they may even detest it. Split personalities weren't something to be proud of –this was more specific on Tayuya.

"Orochimaru has ordered you guys to head out there immediately to prepare," continued the Sound warrior, banishing his previous mind arguments, "It's not very likely that the Sand would take their troops at night where all enemies could detect their presence, they would need to have fires for their light. It's best to ambush them at a choke point carrying utmost surprise. Anyway, I wish you three the best of luck." The three Sound elites immediately took a bow –which they never did to Orochimaru for the sannin forces them to kneel- and Akira happily –or pleased to the very least- left them to prepare themselves.

However, that was short lived once the four noticed a powerful, dark chakra signature heading their way in walking speed.

"Akira!" called a voice from the distance that alerted all four of them. That was no other than Orochimaru, and being the arrogant ruler that he was, he didn't even bother attempting to address a greeting to his elite soldiers. He roughly brushed by the Three before approaching Akira, causing Tayuya to squeak a little at the abrupt contact. However, she forced herself to remain silent when Kidoumaru glared warningly. Tayuya may be mean and bossy at times, but when her comrades dared to stare at her intently, she knew that they were serious. At the same time, they did it for her own good since Orochimaru expected firm solemnity than fragility –unless she wanted another case of scolding.

Noticing the disturbing aura emitted from the sannin, Tayuya narrowed her eyes with vigilance; Jiroubo showed no intention to even start a conversation; Kidoumaru just made a sneer before looking slightly the other way to escape eye contact. Then, those three wisely did a short bow. Akira, with a smile and face that equaled to Ichimaru Gin (3rd Squad Shinigami Captain in Bleach), decided to greet him. What appeared from the Paladin was nothing but genuine surprise, but more importantly, he had innocence all over him.

"What brings you here, Orochimaru?" asked Akira, welcoming the creator of the Sound. The three elites had their heads down, listening from the sidelines.

"Just checking if you have given those three the orders I gave you," replied Orochimaru slanderously, "You know, Kiba is already dead, and I can't have you just wasting Kidoumaru and his friends." Funny way of showing that he actually gave a damn when he did not bother with saying a hello. On the contrary, Orochimaru always considered his prized shinobis to be expendable at any time whether in battle or experimented.

"Don't worry that much, old man," commented the Paladin with a shadow now casting near his eyes. Tayuya knew her admirer was being serious, and very dangerous. "I told them everything I needed."

The sannin merely sneered without being pressured. "Are you telling them what I am telling you, or are you telling them what you want?"

Akira raised a brow with blamelessness. "What are you saying?"

"An intelligent man like yourself should clearly know what my mind is thinking," Orochimaru snapped. "I have heard from some of the medics that there are at least two new demon children in Konoha," Akira, again, only raised a brow with surprise and guiltlessness. The sannin now glared and completely annoyed that the blond Paladin could be taking things so easily when he was giving challenging threats. If Akira wasn't a powerful and reliable man, he would've killed him ages ago. "Not only that, I heard that their skills are equaled to Tayuya, Kidoumaru, and Jiroubo. What's up with that?"

"Your point being what? Is it the village's fault for having strong enemies? It's natural for Konoha to have considerable resistance, we ARE invading their home if you recall."

"Drop the act. You clearly know that's not what I am talking about!" the sannin showed disgust in his words, "When have you given any mercy on demons? It's not the first time that the Three had encountered them, and after the first time, you would be going out there yourself to slay them. Instead, you stayed at base with high hopes during both invasions like a sissy! You are someone who hates demons, and you are here only sending Tayuya and the others to weaken them? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Hey, you're saying like that I want the demons to survive on purpose."

"That _IS_ exactly what I am saying!"

"My, oh my, don't you now sound like that I want Konoha to live?"

"That _IS_ what I am trying to say, bastard!"

"Don't be ridiculous."

The flute girl smirked. "What an asshole prick…"

"A stupid old man starting his stupid arguing for no reason at all…" said Kidoumaru to Jiroubo in a dead quiet whisper, "How annoying…"

"Orochimaru-sama seems to be quite hot-blooded…" said Jiroubo, sneering a little.

"Anyway," said Akira to the sannin in a calm, carefree voice. "It's not a big deal."

"It would be a big deal when majority of the Sound's losses are due to those two or three certain individuals," retorted the snake sannin angrily. "You would be the blame for it when that happens, demon." Orochimaru spat slightly before looking at his treasured elite shinobis. "You three, you better deal with those demons the next time you meet them. I can't have your carelessness affect the entire invasion! Our victory is at hand! Take my words seriously for I expect results, understand?"

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama," the Three replied immediately with no weakness in their tone or body structure. In front of the Sound dictator, they had to look their best.

"We'll leave you guys to prepare yourselves," said Akira before giving a little bit of strength in his pushing to actually get the sannin out of the room. Being the aware and cautious man Akira was, he certainly knew Orochimaru was starting to suspect things within his own ranks. Not like it truly mattered though, Orochimaru's most valued soldiers were no longer on his side. Who said compassion and care were useless in a dictator? As far as he was concerned, the sannin was in no position to battle the champions of Konoha, yet he was extremely foolish for being an arrogant bastard.

It was only a matter of time, Akira thought constantly to himself, and it would be soon before Orochimaru lost all his supporters since he never gave a damn about them. Having Tayuya, Kidoumaru, and Jiroubo giving him their full loyalty, he was one step nearer to tasting victory.

The Three readied themselves with haste –with Tayuya ranting and showing her tantrum midway since the guys were too slow. The duo had a way to deal with her silliness, all they had to do was give her chocolate, and they had plenty of it under their beds. Although they were already 26, they felt that they had been alive for 13 to 16 of those years. It certainly seemed that way when their bodies appeared to be like a teen's, not to mention their intelligence level were merely someone of 16 to 18. Once Kidoumaru tossed her a small candy bar, Tayuya caught it with both her small hands enthusiastically before ripping the cover apart to chew on the sweet, likeable chocolate.

As soon as Kidoumaru packed up his weapons, spherical breaker, food, water, Jiroubo with his medicine and first aid packs, and Tayuya with more equipment such as food and her personal weapons, they headed off in flight to the west to commence their mission at daybreak. Tasting blood was a privilege, and taking it from oblivious fools was certainly a chance of satisfaction that must not be missed.

_**(Meanwhile, back at the Konoha encampment)**_

"No!" objected the little Uzumaki Death Knight after hearing such blasphemed statement. "I can't do this! I can't marry Yamase like this!" Hinata obviously figured out before hand that her son would find this ridiculous. Even she didn't want to tell him any of this, but it would enrage Shani even more when someone else such as Neji or Hiashi told him instead. Hinata did not want her son to believe that she was hiding things from him. Honesty was always the best policy.

"Do you hate Yamase-chan?" asked Hinata with a loving tone behind her words. She would do anything to make her son feel comfortable instead of acting in rage.

"I love her, Mother," Shani said honestly, "She's like my sister, I love her a lot. But marrying… it's another issue…" When the Forbidden child stole a glimpse at his sister, he raised his eye a little, wondering why she seemed to be disappointed that Shani was refusing this proposal. Wasn't she supposed to agree with him, Shani thought, this was an important situation here! Naruto exasperatedly placed his hand on his forehead, he –amongst all people- knew that Shani would hesitate.

"Oni-chan," reasoned Kagari now holding his hand tightly, "Don't you think that this may be the best for Konoha? You carry the Byakugan more than I do… and if kaa-chan's clan is permanently lost… how can the Hyuga clan continue? Kaa-chan is still the heiress, have you thought of how tough it may be on her to actually say this to you? Besides, it's Yamase-chan… don't you at least want to…"

"I don't love her romantically, Kagari," stated Shani tiredly, but more importantly directly, "And also, why would I relinquish my freedom by shackling myself to them? What you are saying is absurd."

"They are not trying to restrict your freedom, Shani-chan," said Hinata now holding him gently. Her arms snaked around his waist before Hinata kissed him on the cheek. To respond, the little Death Knight leaned his head on her chest area and rested there. The Hyuga girl smiled with care realizing how drained he actually was from the day. "They just want the blood to continue on, and Yamase-chan is the perfect one for you. You will grow to love her like how your father loves me, Shani-chan, I know you will."

"What about Yamase-chan though?" questioned Shani with worry for his loving cousin, "Doesn't she… no, shouldn't she have a say in this too? I mean, this is her life that I am taking away, and not to mention the Hyuga clan is also responsible for this."

"I doubt that she would object," Asuran stated suddenly, catching Shani's attention instantly. "Seriously, she would accept this."

The Forbidden child was now confused at a high level. "What are you even saying, Asuran? Are you saying that Yamase-chan _wants_ to get married with me? Do you even know what you are saying here? This is absurd."

"What else did you think he said, oni-chan?" Kagari replied back in a form of a question. At this point of the game, Shani was just lost. In all honesty, he believed that he was missing a crucial piece of information to complete the puzzle. However, this last piece seemed to be in his sister's hands, and damn he hated it when she wouldn't tell him what he was doing wrong here.

"Do you know something that I don't?" inquired the young Death Knight eyeing those two adolescents suspiciously. "Well?"

Asuran and Kagari merely looked at each other and shrugged –much to Shani's dismay.

"Why don't you ask Yamase-chan if she likes this proposal or not?" The Uchiha unexpectedly offered to change the subject. "Like, you do want to know that, right?"

"Mother…" Shani whispered with his head still on Hinata's chest, "Should I talk to Yamase-chan about this? I mean… I don't want her to believe that she is forced to do this…" Hinata, once again, smiled wholehearted at her son's wise judgments. Shani, Kagari, and Asuran wondered how Hinata could ever smile so often, and even more curious when they found it so beautiful to look at. It was not a miracle why so many men wanted her. Of course, Naruto would never allow any Konoha men to steal his wife, nor would the Hyuga girl accept any other males.

They made love too many times during their marriage, and thus their emotional bondage was extremely forged and reinforced.

"Do as your heart tells you, Shani-chan," cooed Hinata before she slowly released him and looked into his right eye that was identical to hers. The young Death Knight watched his mother's charming smile one last time before giving a nod to acknowledge her. Now fully releasing himself from his mother, Shani instantly took a sprint towards the opposite direction hoping to find a reasoning from his Hyuga cousin. Kagari and Asuran sighed inwardly before facing another, where as Naruto finally joined his wife.

"Do you think Shani would accept it?" questioned Kagari to the Uchiha male. Asuran took one small glance at the Uzumaki goddess and blushed lightly. As soon as the female Paladin noticed his embarrassment, a devious smile came across her face as she took his hand and played with it. "Asuran…" she whispered with a blowing action, "You didn't answer my question."

He didn't need anyone to him that.

The Uchiha was out of options, he was always caught off guard when Kagari wanted attention and affection. "Ano… well… Shani may reject it… I don't know…" When Hinata and Naruto heard Asuran's stuttering and hesitance, they turned their heads towards his direction –which made the Uchiha more embarrassed for very clear reasons. Oh, how desperate he actually wanted to get out of the situation!

"Asuran-chan," Hinata said, fighting her giggle. Naruto and Hinata were not oblivious people; they clearly knew their daughter's feelings towards Itachi's only son. "Why are you stuttering in front of Kagari-chan? Is it because you like her?" Although she was teasing, those words merely made Asuran cold sweat with fear.

"Auntie Hinata…" the Uchiha spoke, panicking, "I… I… I… It's not what you think…"

"Sorry, kaa-chan," intervened Kagari swiftly since she knew her mother's cunning behaviours all too well. That was no thanks to her father of course. "Asuran-chan and I need to talk." Grabbing his right hand skillfully into hers, the angelic girl took flight, therefore pulling the poor little Asuran with her. Despite his protesting, Kagari would not listen until she stopped at her room, and of course shoving the Uchiha in. Once Asuran wanted to rant about her reckless flying, he was silenced when Kagari smooched him hard on the lips. Did he retaliate now? Unfortunately, his self-control was no where close to Naruto's. In simpler terms, he gave in.

"Kagari-chan…" moaned the young Uchiha as he broke out of the kiss. Luckily, he still had a bit of control. The Uzumaki girl watched him with an alluring smile, she still wanted to kiss. Luckily, she managed to plant another kiss on his cheek before he objected. She smiled ever so serenely, Kagari was so strikingly beautiful that words could not express her gorgeous features.

"What is it?" she asked divinely as her arms began to do the talking.

"What's the occasion?" he questioned as he planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Thank you for being here. Thank you for saving oni-chan for me."

"I didn't do anything though…" Kagari giggled at his humility, Asuran could be so like Shani at times.

"Don't be silly, Asuran-chan," said Kagari as she placed her finger on his lips, "Believe me, if you weren't there, I think we would've been killed. They were strong, you know that, too, right?"

"You guys survived the last time," commented the Uchiha, rubbing her feathery, smooth back. In fact, he was playing around, and his grin got a little wider when he noticed all she had was an shinobi net shirt under her casual violet shinobi uniform. With a gorgeous girl who had no bra, he would lose it if she made another move. "You two would've been fine without me. I was more or less a nuisance that wasn't much of help..."

Kagari shook her head, waving her long half indigo, half black hair as a deliberation to charm. It tickled the older Uchiha prodigy's face a little bit as her hair brushed by. "Don't say that, Asuran," the younger Uzumaki twin argued as her hands pulled him in closer, "You did great out there, you protected me…"

"I wouldn't leave you out there to die, Uzumaki Kagari," stated Asuran as he also held her close. In fact, he was actually about to break down, but miraculously, he kept his voice firm so she did not catch it. Oblivious to Kagari, that battle was one of the scariest experiences he had in his life, but he was more than willing to take on this challenge if it meant saving his cherished ones. No one would take his life and future away without a fight; this also applied to everyone else he knew.

"Thank you for being there for me."

"Always, Kagari-chan. You are too important to me…" When the Uchiha finished that statement, Kagari stole a glance to see why he was being silent all of a sudden. It wasn't uncommon for Asuran to be soundless, but at least he would give a sign that he was alive. However, she then figured out that he was staring at her… actually, it was a tad bit too long. His golden onyx eyes carried this wanting feeling, and her face could not help but flush up despite how badly she wanted to maintain stable.

"Asuran?" she asked in a squeak. How she cursed herself for being so intimidated, but yet she loved it when he did it to her –at least when he was being affectionate.

"You are so beautiful, Kagari," he suddenly said out loud as his hand caressed her soft, lovable cheek. Her cheeks burned up, and soon she felt that she was on fire. She loved him complimenting her… especially with a voice that she deeply adored. However, his next words were quite unexpected. "I really thought I would've lost you out there… I really did… I was… deathly worried…"

"Asuran?" Without warning, she was being hugged. It wasn't an affectionate embrace, relief was more like it. "What's wrong? Asuran, tell me what's wrong… don't be like this… See, I'm okay, I'm perfectly fine. I didn't lose any limbs or body parts, I am just tired."

"I know," he replied after a ten second delay, and he rarely procrastinated with his responses, "Kagari, you are a Uzumaki, you carry the village's secret, and supposedly extinct bloodline. You are not someone who is only that, you are vital to me, and I don't want to lose someone like you. Please, be careful out there even if I am not there with you…"

"Asuran…" she was deeply touched.

"I'm sorry for saying such inappropriate things," he said with haste and awkwardness, "I just…" He halted when she silenced him with a finger on his soft lips. "Kagari…"

"Say no more," she commanded sweetly. Planting a kiss didn't hurt to relieve the atmosphere. "I know what you mean, for you… I will be careful, I promise." The golden onyx eyed Uchiha just could resist her sincerity, how could he not melt to such a loving face? "Should we kiss?" Not even hearing a proper response from Asuran, she took the authority to claim his luscious lips without permission –it wasn't as if Asuran would just refuse her like that. As the duo swayed a little bit with their tongues battled another for the desperation for air, eventually they moved away ending in a draw. Their war lasted an eternity, yet the outcome was a win-win situation.

"Kagari-chan…"

"Asuran…"

"I think that I…" Surprisingly, where Asuran had be taken off guard for the second time, Kagari silenced him with another kiss. "Kagari?" he asked looking at her with shock.

"Let's save it for another time, Asuran," she told him lovingly, her hands were wrapped in his in an unbreakable fashion. "Can we just enjoy the moment? For me?" Seeing her wanting it so deeply with the most sincere intentions, he couldn't say no –nor did he have the heart to. He really began to falter when she gave him her lonely smile that demanded affection and care, Asuran sure felt bad knowing that he had made his princess frown or depressed.

Encircling his arms around her mature narrow waist, he took her lips again in a blissful kiss. The Uzumaki angel knew what Asuran was trying to say, yet she did not want it to ruin their magical moment. She wished that they could last like this forever, and ever.

* * *

"Where do you think Kagari went?" asked Naruto to his gorgeous wife –who was now kissing his cheek. Hearing upon that inquiry, Hinata stopped her actions and pondered for a bit. 

"What did we do before when we were younger? You know, when we wanted time alone…"

"I remember nothing like that… for I never wanted any time alone." His wife nudged playfully with a timid smile across her features. "Well, I love you back then just as much as I love you now, right?" To his surprise, the Hyuga heiress had a pouting face. What did he say wrong?

"My love for you increased everyday, Naruto-kun," Hinata told him as she pushed herself a tad bit more near to his body, "Don't tell me you were still at square one after years of knowing another? Even if you say you were, I won't believe you or we would not have those make out sessions." Make out sessions, he remembered them well when his emotions were still not perfected and polished.

"Of course my feelings for you grew, too, Hinata-chan," reasoned the demon hunter with a small laugh coming midway, "I just took it slower…" Hinata eyed him again with a doubting look, "Okay, okay, drastically slower, happy?" That satisfied the Hyuga girl at last. She loved dominating him.

"We would have had a lot more fun if you were more open back then. Maybe we would've had kids when we were 14…"

"Would we?" questioned the Death Knight, pondering a little bit, "That would be reckless though, don't you think? At the same time, I don't think I would know how to cherish you that well if we were both immature. You know typical men, they are greedy, they want excitement, and even some of them cast women aside like objects. It's good that I know better, but if we went a little too far back then… who knows what would've happened?"

Hinata then rested on him as if Naruto belonged to her. In theory, he did, and vice versa. "I guess you're right, Naruto-kun. If we did something reckless earlier, I don't think our children would be Shani and Kagari, and I love my little angels."

"I know you do," he told her as he planted a small suction on her neck. That earned him a good moan from Hinata, she just loved his kisses despite that they had been kissing another since they were 13. She obediently moved her neck to the other side to give him easier passage to her sensitive spots without him saying anything, but much to her dismay, he stopped when his mouth suctioned one of her most delicate areas. Hinata didn't like her satisfying impulses to be short lived, and she moved her head telling him to continue. "I love them as well."

"Do you think Shani-chan is going to be okay?" she asked in a comfortable moan after Naruto finished his feathering touches.

"Why wouldn't he?" questioned Naruto, raising a brow at her question. "Of course he would be fine, he _is_ just talking to Yamase, right?"

"No, I mean emotionally." The Death Knight's mind came to a realization. "Shani can be very fragile and vulnerable… I really don't know how he took that news."

"He's your son, Hyuga Hinata," Naruto assured her promisingly, "I have faith in him."

"And he's Uzumaki Naruto's first born," she said back as she kissed his cheek, "I also believe in him."

"You always know what to say to cheer me up."

"I am not your wife for nothing." Hinata told him, smiling her heartwarming smile that could melt the coldest glaciers. "And you also care for me, you never would do anything to hurt me."

"I love you so much, Hinata."

"And I love you too." Like any husband and wife, they kissed another on the lips with utmost passion. It was slow, silent, cherishing, loving, delightful, memorable, and anything within the field of majestic. Although they were married for 13 years, it satisfied them both to say 'I love you' to another. It was a sense of completion, it was an act of loyalty and faithfulness, and certainly it was undoubtedly honest. They kissed for a long time before breaking away, but a devilish smile still covered Hinata's face where as Naruto only maintained a happy one. He knew that look all too well, and damn hell he knew what she was going to say next.

"Okay," he said along with a groan, "What do you want?" He awaited her questioning with utmost dread.

"Naruto-kun…" she spoke alluringly –like every time. "Can you do me a favour?"

"Do you know that you are beautiful?" Naruto quickly changed the subject with swiftness and talent. The Death Knight wrapped his arms around her waist before embracing her passionately and lovingly. Although Hinata smiled at his actions, she knew was he was trying to do. After married with him for so long, that was how Naruto avoided tough situations such as disagreements so they both start off at a good ground. However, that was always how he switched the topic of making love to something else each time. The difference between each time was that he used alternate praises, and being someone that was good with words, Naruto complimented her with much variety during their marriage.

"I know I am beautiful," she stated not to be proud of herself, but to tell her husband that she knew she was splendid in his eyes. She wouldn't falter that easily, and looking at him with desire and want proved that his tactics failed. "But I still want you to do me a favour."

"Like what?" It was coming, he knew it was.

"Can we make love?" Yep, there it was. The demon hunter looked around, he wanted to sigh when he noticed that no one was here. It would be quite embarrassing to have some nobody hearing about their private life. In addition, almost every male pervert in Konoha wanted Hinata. Her beauty was a deliberate statement of lust and desire, Naruto wouldn't want to put it like that, but males found the Hyuga heiress to be just too gorgeous. Beautiful visage, sizeable breasts, slender waist and body, tall –she was only 66 inches tall though-, legs that showed wonders, no wonder she made men lust. This applied to Sakura, Rin, Tenten, and Ino as well. They could not keep their eyes off her despite a death sentence was put onto them. Yet, what made Naruto felt like a true winner was that she wanted no one but him.

"Here?" he questioned her doubtfully. "I mean… this is the encampment, not our house you know."

She smiled a seductive grin as her hands grabbed his collar before pulling his head inches away from hers. "We do have our own private sectors, Naruto," she told him, kissing his forehead and cheeks, "We could do it there." She even nibbled his lips to escalate her hidden charm; a seductive heiress was someone to be vigilant of.

"We will see…" said the Death Knight not truly giving in yet. "I'm not in the best mood right now."

"Really?" she asked him worriedly as she felt his head. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I will," he told her, rest assured. "Hey, I will see what I can do." Nodding happily like a child receiving their very first chocolate bar, Naruto took his wife's hand before leading her to a private spot –more or less their temporary room. To make it more affectionate, he swooped her up into his arms before giving her a full passionate kiss. Being Hinata, who loved emotional affection, did not do anything else but to accept it gratefully. A cute smile never left her when she took the initiative to kiss him back. However, worry for their son did not leave their minds for one second, the duo truly hoped everything was going to be fine.

In spite that they would want the best for Shani, it was up to the little Death Knight to overcome this emotional conflict. All his parents could do now was wait.

_**(Meanwhile at another sector of the Konoha encampment)**_

"Yamase-chan," called Shani as he knocked at her door. He knew she was inside since he saw Neji and Tenten coming out moments before. "Are you there?"

"Shani-chan?" the little Hyuga girl asked from behind the door in her cute voice, "Is that you?"

"Yeah…" He wanted his words to be few. "May I come in?"

"Sure!" she said delightedly. The young Death Knight hesitated as he turned the knob, judging from his knowledge, Yamase was never this enthusiastic in front of him. In all honesty, not stuttering was a problem. Regardless of whatever the cause, he had to deal with it and face it. Once he fully opened the door, cold sweat dripped down his neck and to his back when he saw a smile on Yamase's face. It wasn't any regular smile, it contained a fusion of timidity, lovingness, gladness, and seductiveness. What in blazes was going on?

"Hello…" Shani greeted humbly despite he was someone from the Main House.

"Hello, Shani-chan!" Yamase leaped off the bed she was on before taking him to an embrace. Again, this was something she rarely did to him. From as far as he could remember, wasn't he the one that always took the initiative to hug her, and then she would have the minimal courage to actually move her arms to embrace him back. "It's so good to see you."

"Good to see you too, Yamase-chan…" he said back, taking her a foot away from him, but she chose to snuggle close to enjoy his warmth. Why was she being so affectionate? No expert or genius were needed to figure out something was clearly amiss.

"Come sit here with me," the Hyuga girl told him sweetly as she patted on the seat beside her. Shani felt dreadfully frightened when that spot was on the bed. He looked at the mattress, then at her, and that welcoming smile did not disappear from her face. Swallowing insignificantly due to nervousness, the Death Knight slowly sat onto the designated spot, but a deep chill seared through his body when the blanket made in contact with his broken pants. What was causing all of this to happen?

"Yamase-chan," called Shani, knowing that he came here with a purpose to get everything over with. "I…"

"Shani-chan," she interrupted with a voice that was covered with delight. She never cut in before like this, but to the very least, the usual pink shades were still on her pretty cheeks. Despite that, he was feeling kind of weird. "I wrote you a poem… I hope you like it…"

"There was no need for you to write me a poem, Yamase-chan," he told her with a sweat coming down his neck to his back before continuing the last part with dread, "Especially if it's a love poem…" Although his cousin did blush hearing the words love poem, she giggled. In all honesty, after teasing her about crushes before when he was a kid, she was able to take on the issue of romance as if it was fun and rewarding. He remembered his uncle leaving the room before he came in, what on earth did Neji tell her?

"What makes you think it's a love poem, Shani-chan?" the future Hyuga Branch leader questioned with a cute chuckle. Shani was dumbfounded.

"It isn't?" He could've sworn it was.

"Of course it isn't," she stated as-a-matter-of-factly, "Read it." And he did. **_(AN: I did not write this poem but try out this small game if you must!)_**

_A funny old lady said this to me  
I fell in a snowdrift in June said she_

_I went to a ballgame out in the sea_

_I saw a jellyfish float up in a tree  
I saw some gum in a cup of tea  
I stirred my cream with a big brass key  
I opened my door on my bended knee  
I beg your pardon for this said he  
But 'tis true when told as it ought to be  
'Tis a puzzle in punctuation you see_

"I don't get this…" said Shani although he was a sharp young boy, "Punctuation… this poem doesn't even make sense!" When he looked at Yamase again, she was giggling like how she would be with Kagari. His sister always had fun with his cousin, and deep down, he was envying the fact that Kagari had more results than he did with someone he deeply cared for. Knowing that this was the girl that he was engaged to, he didn't know if he should felt dreadful or cherish her pleasant laughter. One thing was for certain, however, was his nervousness was starting to get to him.

His heart was burning somehow, and his mind could not fully think straight. Luckily, he could still handle it -hopefully. Shani nearly gasped as his heart suddenly used much more strength to pump blood. If it was that noticeable, Shani could not imagine what was truly wrong, but yet he just thought maybe he was too tired. Yeah, maybe that was it, his body must've been too drained for him to be still up, but that didn't explain the fact why he mind was so out of it.

The only possible solution for him was to sleep right after this, most injuries and energy depletion could be dealt with after one night's sleep. Shani soon clutched his head hard with his right hand, wondering why his mind was running through no man's land in an idiotic manner, why couldn't he get fully focussed? He immediately dedicated himself to leave this room right after he was done with this.

"Shani-chan?" asked Yamase, taking in his hand with her own. "You seem troubled, is anything wrong?"

He failed to notice her touches, but he still blushed when his eyes saw her hand above his. When her fingers found the way inside the gaps between each of his fingers, his heart suddenly burned. Shani could tell his mind was weakened drastically, and somehow he felt his blood was being purged by something else… it felt evil, and not to mention overwhelming. If anything emotional ignited between now and his time to exit this room, he didn't know how he would take it.

"Nothing…" he managed to say as he tried to remember why he was here. "Yamase-chan…"

"What?"

"I didn't come here to read your poems…" she seemed hurt by his comment, yet she still smiled… quite a lonely one. "No… I don't mean that your poems are no good, I am grateful and happy that you wrote them for me… Ever since you were little, I knew you had talent in art whether it was visual or poetic. I really do think so." Shani grinned when the expression of her smile brightened, and his grin gotten a little better when she blushed like before. "However… that's not what I came here for…"

"I figured that you would say that…" she sadly said. Shani jolted insignificantly at her response. "You came for the engagement, right?"

"Yeah…"

"What is Shani-chan's answer about the engagement? Do you want to marry me?"

"I don't know!" yelled the Death Knight as the pain increased in his heart. A dangerous pain pounded in his temple despite the situation, and he wasn't liking it one bit. He had to remain calm, or the girl would fear him for who knew how long. "What about you? Don't you have your opinions about this? The Hyuga clan, the Main House, is relinquishing your freedom, you don't have to sacrificing it by shackling yourself to those fools! If they are forcing you to marry me, Yamase-chan, you can reject, you have every goddamn reason to object! I don't want you to do something that you don't want to do, and I will do everything within my ability to make you a free girl. You are my cousin and-"

"Shani-chan," she interjected despite that he wasn't done, "What makes you think that I am forced to do this?" The Death Knight froze immediately.

"What did you say?"

"I don't feel forced, Shani-chan."

"Do you have any idea of what you are even saying, Yamase?" questioned the Forbidden child in absolute disbelief while his hand clasped his heart secretively. Somehow, anger was carried in his voice. "This is marriage, not some child's play marriage where we pretend that we are all lovey-dovey and then we say goodbye and see each other the next day. This is the real deal that requires true love to maintain, and this is what we goddamn lack. Don't think this as a game, this proposal would do nothing but screw our relations to a state where it becomes fully… fully… I don't know, it ruins all we have developed as relatives!"

"We will learn to love another, Shani-chan," Yamase justified, still standing her ground, "I know we can."

"If your words are powered due to the clan's expectations, I don't want to hear it. If you are completely forced to do this, then I won't take away your future. I'm sure that's the best for you." Just as Shani took in some air after his outburst, he flinched when he found his cousin was crying. Tears dropped one by one slowly, but Shani could detect that she was holding all of them in. The Death Knight truly believed that she was ordered to say what she said, there was no way Yamase would want to be engaged like this. She was crying because if she didn't obey the rules, she would be tortured or disciplined… how dare the Hyuga clan put physical threats on young, innocent, pure girls like Yamase!

The bottom line was this was unforgivable!

For his loving cousin's sake, Shani would demand to change all this absurdity –or to the least die trying. However, he did not know half of it. He bid a small farewell kindly before slowly turning around, heading toward the door. At the moment, the little Hyuga girl did not move from her spot yet, she was still trying to cry, but she stopped when she heard Shani turning the doorknob.

At that point, she couldn't hold it any longer.

Without thinking, the Hyuga girl dashed from behind him before slamming his front to the wall and her front body making full contact with his rear and back. Yamase snaked her arms around his body as her head rested on his back to inhale his scent. Her hands then pulled his body back just a little bit, therefore, he could feel her developing breasts fully. Shani soon froze when he her moan, but he really wanted to die when her cheeks started rubbing against his upper spinal area.

"Shani-chan…" she groaned pleasantly as her body's warmth increased coordinating with Shani's.

"Yamase-chan…"

"Don't leave me all alone…"

"Yamase-chan," choked the Death Knight as her hands starting to feel his body. At the same time, his head and heart suddenly felt like an ignition just happened. "If you… if you continue this… I might lose it…"

"It doesn't matter, Shani-chan," she told him, rest assured, "I don't mind if it's with you…"

"How could you say that…" Shani groaned as his tolerance level was taken to the test. "Are you sure…"

"I've never been so sure at anything else in life when I was told that I was going to be your fiancee and future wife." She said it so sincerely, terribly wholeheartedly, and it was then the Forbidden child simply stiffened up to a degree where it could be considered solidification. No, that couldn't be.

"Don't tell me…" Shani said as she turned him around, the smile on her face was very lonely and desperate. From what his insights could gather at the moment, he figured he was the only person to cure it. If that was the case, could it be that she liked him more than a sister? "You want to get married with me?" He face drained of all life when she nodded and kissed him on the cheek like always. "How?"

"Because… I love you, Shani-chan," the Hyuga girl told him at last with a faint red shade covering her cheeks. She was not stuttering anymore ever since this engagement thing was given, could he had missed this fact, did he fail to realize her feelings sooner? "I've loved you for a very long time."

"I love you, too, Yamase-chan…" the Death Knight halted when her finger pressed onto his lips. His right eye widened with surprise.

"Not like that, Shani-chan," the future Branch family leader hushed him momentarily with a gentle, serene tone. When she gave him another heart-warming smile –which she learned from her aunt, Hinata-, the Death Knight couldn't help but blush slightly. His hand twitched when she pushed herself towards him again, forcing him to feel more of her body. "I don't love you like that… can't you see that I love you romantically?"

This time, he felt that his heart had fully stopped, but not without a devouring sensation going through his entire system.

"What…" he asked dreadfully. By the time that he made that question, he found out that he was already on the bed with his cousin on top of him. Yamase's legs trapped him in the center, thus, he could not break free despite she wasn't actually holding him. This position, no doubt, was nothing innocent. Her feminine lips were dying to take his mouth for a blissful kiss. Shani easily assumed it for Kagari always kissed him like that, but of course lacking this seductiveness and desires.

"I love you, Shani-chan," she moaned, tilting her head slightly to the left so she did not need to touch the silver hair that was on his left face. Yamase knew how upset Shani could be if that bang was moved, how she sympathized him for living with such a curse. She would do anything to make him feel loved, even greater than the care Kagari, Hinata, -and especially Umi- could give. Yamase felt victorious at last. "Don't tell me that you don't like me, not even a little."

"Yamase…"

"I know you love me like how you love Kagari-chan," she said with a little regret as she pecked his right cheek before resting her head above his, making full eye contact. "But… can't you take a chance and try to love me more than a sister when I love you so much?" Without wasting haste, she moved her face downward before stopping centimetres above his. If either of them moved just a little bit, their lips would make union, and much temptation was present when both adolescents could feel each other's warm breath. Even after an entire day, Yamase's breath was soft and carrying a sweet fragrance of jasmine. "Shani-chan…"

"But…"

"Do whatever you want with me. Take me…"

Whether Shani considered it an intrusion of death, or a rescue of hope, someone at that instant flung the door open. When she saw the very corrupted position that Yamase and Shani were in, she screamed with an accusing finger. "You!" the intruder, who was a girl, shouted with jealousy and rage, "Get off Shani-kun, now!"

"Umi-chan!" gasped the half-awake Death Knight as he awkwardly shifted out of Yamase's affectionate lock. It wasn't a surprise that Shani's cheeks were flushing up.

"Uchiha Umi!" Yamase retorted back angrily for the first time anyone had seen her, "Don't you know privacy when you see it?"

"Why would I stand still when you try to seduce Shani-kun!" objected the pink-raven haired Uchiha girl, "It is not like he's your boyfriend!"

"I know, he's not my boyfriend. Umi, Shani-chan is my fiancee! The Hyuga clan had proposed that I should marry Shani-chan." The Uchiha girl stood deadly still, her face just froze as if a cold wave of blizzard washed by. Did she just hear right? Was the word fiancee just mentioned? Shani being engaged to Yamase… Umi could not believe this, this was an outrage! She didn't even confess to the Uzumaki Death Knight yet, and now he was already taken? She would not back down without putting up a decent fight, there was no way in hell Umi would simply allow this to happen, nor would she accept it gracefully.

"Is this true, Shani-kun…?" the Uchiha girl inquired as her voice gradually fell with every passing word that came out of her lips. Those emerald green eyes of hers, they were flooded with tears that desired to fall, but Umi would not simply show her weak traits to the broad daylight –especially not her rival, Hyuga Yamase.

When Shani nodded slowly, Umi totally lost it. Her jealousy, envy, rage, surprise, stun, emotional hurt, disbelief, affection all exploded in a torrential cleanse. In simpler terms, she screamed at the top of her lungs before dashing out of the room blindly. When Shani took a small inspection at the ground at his position, he obviously knew Umi ran away crying badly.

"Umi-chan!" shouted Shani as he leaped off the bed, "Wait!" It was rude to simply leave Yamase there without saying a word, but the Death Knight could not bare to see his good friend acting in the manner that he witnessed seconds ago. He did not understand why Umi turned like that, why was she so shocked to hear the engagement news? It did not fully matter now, all the Forbidden child was thinking of was to find her and make things well again despite that he had no idea to patch the wounds.

"Go away!" Uchiha Umi protested as she continued to run without looking back. "Go back to your Yamase-chan, you don't care about Umi!"

Shani was grunting exasperatedly. "How could you say that, Umi?" he called as his pace slowed down due to the pain in his heart, "Why do you think that I don't care about you? You are one of the most important people I know in my life!"

"Liar!" Her tears seamed out of her eyelids once more before soaking the ground, "I was never that important to you! I was so worried about you each time you went out there to fight, and all you say is don't worry each time! I want to see you safe, I fear that I cannot see Shani-kun again, and then you go around making engagements without me knowing! Have you thought about me?"

"You think I want this to happen?" he argued as he forced his legs to move faster. "Even so, why can't you just wish us the best of luck? You should know that this marriage is based on obligation rather than affection… and Yamase… she loves me… I can't just leave her like this!"

"Do you think that she is the only girl that loves you?" Umi shouted back with no means to slow down. The Death Knight's right eye immediately opened in spite of energy drainage and pain. What was she saying? "Have you considered my feelings, Shani-kun?"

To his surprised, she actually stopped running.

Shani panted heavily as his mind finally had an intention to slow down. Once he actually stopped, a tremendous sensation of relief and relaxation washed over his senses. He didn't believe how tiring it truly was… who knew how blasted far he was from Yamase's room at this point. However, he had greater things to solve. What on earth did Umi mean when she said her feelings?

"Umi-chan…"

The Uchiha girl carefully took a step closer to him, and as she outstretched her hands, she pulled him in into an embrace –a very loving embrace. "Shani-kun… answer me this… When Yamase asked you to be engaged with her… or vice versa, I don't know, but have you ever considered that your decision might be hurting someone?"

"Umi-chan… what are you…"

"How do you think I would feel? Do you think that I want Shani-kun to just leave me forever when I wanted to show you so many things that I would only share with you? I don't want our friendship to be so short lived…"

The Death Knight only chose to reason with her. "But, regardless of what happens, I am still-"

"My friend?" she asked sadly, "I don't want you to be just my friend, Shani-kun, I want our relationship to be further than that."

"Umi-chan… you don't mean that…"

"Yes, Shani-chan, it's exactly what you think it is," A woman's intuition was certainly powerful. The Death Knight cold sweated when her arms strengthened their current embrace, he even felt warm when he could sense her body heat so evidently. Uchiha Umi was gorgeous. "Uchiha Umi loves you. I am in love with you."

For the second time today, Shani's heart shattered with pain. All sorts of logic, rationality vanished, only the torment and agony remained.

"Love me…?" he choked although he was hurting all over. His blood was purged and hot, his body was gradually losing it while some other demonic presence -that was not Forbidden- played with his mind, threatening him to lose everything within. Shani really wanted to give up, but he refused to be this vulnerable. "No… you, too?"

"I love you, Shani-kun," Umi repeated again and again. "I love you so much. Please, don't marry Yamase without trying to know me more."

"Yamaro… Umi…" the Death Knight warned her weakly as he clutched his hand dreadfully. The pain was overwhelming, the emotional crushing was too difficult to ignore at this point. He even tried turning away to remain sane, but the Uchiha girl failed to realize what was happening. From her perspective, she just thought Shani was trying to ignore her genuine love and escape. Being a Uchiha and Haruno was troublesome at times, Umi had a lot of persistence and endurance in her blood. Obviously, she tried harder for him to notice.

However, before she made her attempt, her eyes widened with fear and ignorance when the Death Knight suddenly cackled like a maniac. Insanity covered every aspect. Umi knew Shani for all her life, and he had never lost himself before. From what she could gather, her friend appeared to be on drugs but now the side effects were kicking in due to the lack of it. It was then when she found his right hand holding his heart too hard.

"Shani-kun!" she screamed with terror as his right eye turned bloody red. Sweat consumed his face, and with that laughing visage, he looked like a real monstrosity. Although Shani was not transforming into anything, the pink-raven haired Uchiha squeaked when Shani suddenly outstretched his devil wings –it nearly cut her arm off. At this stage, he looked like a crazed demon. Umi did not know what to do, there weren't too many options for her to choose from. One, she could run away to get help. Two, stay here and help him to the best of her ability. After confessing her feelings, there was no way she could ditch him. Despite her courage, she gasped loudly when the Death Knight pushed her away –hard.

"Get away…" he hissed while he crouched hesitantly. His mind appeared to be devoured, the Uchiha girl was deeply afraid; afraid of his safety, and very frightened about her own life. "Get away…" Although Shani really wanted to keep his control, his hand moved on its own before aiming his palm right at Umi. Once Shani tried to fight this unknown corruption, the Forbidden child wheezed one last time before he fully lost himself. Suddenly, there was no more reluctance in his movements, and he no longer appeared to be hesitating.

"Shani…"

"Fire." Shani said in the coldest voice possible.

"Stop it, Shani-sama!" a young woman's voice came from afar before she swooped down and grabbed Umi away as Shani fired. The Uchiha girl truly thought that she was dead, she was seriously afraid to open her eyes. Yet, when she felt that a pair of arms were holding her, she turned around and gazed upward to see who it was. No doubt, Umi was surprised at who her saviour was.

"Chaos-chan!" the Uchiha girl announced happily, but that was short lived when she looked down at Shani.

"You okay, Umi-san?" asked the demon lady, Kagari's beautiful spiritual master.

"Chaos-chan, what are you doing here?"

"Kagari-sama was worried about her oni-chan… you know, the engagement thing. She wanted me to comfort him in any means possible if anything happened… damn, who knew this is what really happened. How can I tell Kagari-sama?"

"What's happening to Shani-kun, Chaos-chan?"

"Demonic corruption."

Umi was shocked. "What? How could Shani-kun… no, that's not possible…"

"That was what Kagari-sama was worried about the entire time. Shani-sama was already exhausted when he came back, and he could not take on news that may be tremendously drastic to him. People with demonic blood… rather, the demonic attributes in his blood would always try to take over his humanity despite what age it may be, and if Shani-sama does not have enough control mentally, the demonic corruption could easily play their games before taking more of his humanity away. Damn… at a time like this…"

"Chaos-chan…"

"This happened to Naruto-sama as well… but he was older and wiser back then, and he still had some control… Shani-sama might be unpredictable, as he is dangerous…"

"No…"

"This is one of the side effects that may happen when the demonic traits take over a certain percentage of his blood… it wouldn't kill him though. All this would do is just make him lose all sort of logic, emotions, memory and other humane personalities, and temporary turn him into a killing machine until his body gets used to it. I am more than sure that he may not even know us right now. Umi-san, don't blame Shani-sama if he may attack us." Umi felt her heart was broken into shards and fragments. Chaos obviously did not like elaborating any of this especially when her brother was still trapped within that engine of destruction down below. "Kuso…"

"Go away, go away!" screamed the young Uzumaki Death Knight as he wailed in a frenzy. Without warning, a flare fired from his palm, and it nearly struck Chaos' shoulder. Luckily, the demon lady was swift and graceful, but she could not depend on that to guarantee her safety. He was frantic and wild, Chaos had no idea how to stop him without actually damaging him in any way. "Chaos-chan… go away… stay away from me!"

_He's trying to fight it…_

"Umi-san," warned the demon lady in a whisper to the young girl in her arms, "Hang on." After giving those instructions, Chaos glided back quickly as the dangerous aura thickened.

In one maniacal screech –with his right eye displaying insanity- he violently yanked his scythe before swiping out a long beam sickle to the rooftop. The blade made one deadly clean cut through the concrete, but the hole was not large enough yet. It was then when Shani ferociously fired two Death Coils to decay the rock ceiling. What stunned the girls were that his attack nearly disintegrated the roof, they never knew the famous Uzumaki technique had that much power. Chaos gritted her teeth at the new demonic powers that were risen, who knew what sorts of damage Shani would do now.

The Death Knight laughed as the opening became wide enough for him to fly out, and obviously he did not falter one bit before opening his wings fully. Chaos and Umi watched helplessly when he twirled while he soared, even his basic movements told everyone that he was insane and illogical. Once Shani made it outside, he suddenly lusted for blood. The sharp pain again exploded in his heart, Shani clutched it hard as he no longer had the common sense to flinch. Instead, he was cackling to satisfy himself.

At that point, he did not know where he was nor did he care. To cure the pain in the only way he knew how, he laughed again as he flew at a random direction. What he failed to notice was that he was going towards the northwest location. Giving another laugh of craziness, he gasped and screeched as he detected that his humanity was dropping to fatal stages and still continuing to decrease. Shani, at this point, still flew with no place to go. Once the searing wretched burn shot through his systems another time, he howled piercingly before he half laughed half screamed.

_I am… I am… I must kill… Nothing else will do! Must find… fresh blood… kill!_

"Hey, there he is!" alerted a Konoha chunnin –who was patrolling around town as scouts- to his other two comrades, "He's that guy that came out from the explosion at the encampment!"

"Isn't he a Uzumaki?" asked the Captain of the platoon.

"He's that Death Knight child!"

"What the hell is he doing out here?" questioned the third man in the team.

"Hey, he broke out of there, should we capture him?"

Their conversation was cut short when Shani suddenly appeared right in the center of them before he hacked those chunnins in half using one swipe. Swinging his blade again, this time their heads were chopped off. Their rain of blood splashed all over his head to toe, still it was not satisfying at all. These weaklings only served as an appetizer, they were hardly a challenge. To the least, he could've hear them suffer, yet, it happened so quickly that they did not have the time to scream their torment. It would've been fulfilling to hear it, but yet taking these lives did not make him feel complete.

He wanted more… he hadn't had enough yet!

Back at base, Chaos and Umi told Kagari, Hinata, Asuran, and Naruto what happened to the young Death Knight. Hearing upon this tragic event, Hinata broke down completely before fainting.

_**(Time passes. At the vicinity where the Three were hiding out, 23km west of Konoha)**_

Tayuya, Jiroubo, and Kidoumaru needed their rest, but at the same time, they waited for daybreak so they could commence their slaughter. How they were so anxious to have their decisive action, and they truly deserved it after their endless patience. Nonetheless, they needed to wait, and to kill time, the boys chose to listen to Tayuya's melodious serenade. Such a beautiful voice, if she actually had a real life instead of being a weapon, maybe she would be a wonderful teacher or nurturer for the young. The arachnid shinobi listened with his eyes closed the entire time, enjoying each speck of it knowing that his comrade would not sing too often. Jiroubo merely sat behind her, but of course, he was also cherishing each moment of it.

However, her singing was ended abruptly as soon as they detected a massive chakra signature in the skies. Although they had no eyes of the Byakugan, Sharingan, or the Unholy Sight, but being living weapons, they were trained to have perfect identifying abilities. Reading chakra signatures was child's play. What surprised them was that who could be out here at a time like this? Their watch said that it was at least some time after midnight, and it wasn't likely that any shinobis in Konoha would come out this far without any backup.

One phrase would describe such a fool; they were complaining that their lives were too long, and forcefully shortening it was the best choice.

Whoever this was, he sure had some guts to come out alone. At that moment, Tayuya looked up to the left skies, and her eyes cringed with excitement when she saw a figure with large, pitch black archfiend wings heading their way quickly. They only knew one person who had that, it must've been that demonic Death Knight, Uzumaki Shani. Did it truly matter why he was out here? Clearly, it was definitely not when Akira's orders were to kill or capture him.

"It's _him_." Tayuya told her comrades as she stood up next to a stump. She twirled her hands a little bit to warm it up, she wanted all the time in the world to get herself completely ready. They knew Shani could not fully see them if they were melded in the shadows, and they intended to keep it that way until they prepared an ambush.

"Really…" said Kidoumaru, a smirk ceaselessly plastered on his wretched face. "But there is only one of them though."

"Whatever," said Jiroubo, licking his lips as he cracked a several knuckles as well, "Let's deal with him quickly then, shall we?" Given a nod from the two of his subordinates, the leader of the squad quickly projected himself to the skies with Tayuya and Kidoumaru soaring along with him. Oblivious to them, the Death Knight was here to kill, and the three served as a perfect feast to feast off from. As Shani saw his victims up front, he flared up his now bloody red eyes, his mouth formed a dark, sinister grin before charging up chakra in his system. How convenient of them to show up to save him the trouble of bothersome searching; he had to thank them to make his life that much easier. Logic clearly was not something in his movements, and it only proved that he would become totally wild in a matter of moments if they lingered too long.

"Let's go!" ordered Jiroubo as he stretched out his hands and fired a concentrated beam right at the Death Knight. Giving a smirk, Shani facilely moved away making the attack completely useless –firewood gathering was another thing however. The Three flinched noticeably at his movements; he dodged it way too easily as if it was nothing at all. Something was different about him tonight, yet they couldn't fully grasp it. "He's fast…"

The arachnid sharpshooter and the Sound girl quickly decided to engage Shani in melee combat, and not wasting any time, the duo gathered their chakra to their entire body before they rushed at Shani with utmost hostility. Tayuya had pulled her trident back where as Kidoumaru had his three right arms blasting webs, hoping to catch his enemy. Like before, Shani uncaringly twisted and turned as each web was so close at sticking on his body, Kidoumaru's eyes showed nothing but stun when the Death Knight charged past him but not without a knee jamming into his gut. Of course, Kidoumaru coughed with pain, but not to a degree that he would vomit.

"Kuso!" Kidoumaru cried while coughing. Tayuya grimaced at this situation, but it would take light years for her to back down.

Tayuya instantly came down from above emitting a battle cry, yet the Death Knight sneered cockily before halting. Therefore, the girl slashed nothing but air, and her attack again was a dead miss when she struck horizontally. He moved up just a little in less than a blink, and what ticked the girl off badly was that he wasn't even trying! Just as she wanted to kick his disgusting confident visage, Shani instantly disappeared before appearing again ten meters above her.

"Kono…" cursed Kidoumaru as rage took over his logic, he then even shook a slightly while anger boiled inside. "What the hell is up with this guy!"

"How would I know…" replied Tayuya coldly as she charged upward to chase the Death Knight. As a frenzied cackle –something that was more frightening than anything Tayuya had heard in her life- escaped the demon child's lips, Shani struck back with a punch aimed for the face. Luckily for her, she stopped her rush and moved back, yet she knew that was too close for comfort. Once she actually took one good look at him, her face nearly paled at the lustful expression he contained. It didn't want sex… it wanted death… she could read him like a book.

"Aren't we supposed to bring him back to Akira-sama in one piece!" yelled Kidoumaru inquiringly as he flew to his position using the quickest speed he could muster from his body.

"I guess we could kill half of it…" The squad leader said back silently with eyes flinched at caution. Something just wasn't right, and Shani showing up alone was already weird enough.

Without any instructions from Jiroubo, Tayuya quickly flew to the left leaving Kidoumaru and Jiroubo alone. Despite that she was planning something on her own, Kidoumaru only thought she was breaking up the formation to strike. Under these circumstances, a broken formation only meant one step closer to doom.

"Hey, Tayuya!" the spider freak turned his head, and yelled harshly at his teammate –who practically ditched them. "Kuso… that damned bitch!" Without any warning, Kidoumaru quickly whipped his spherical smasher at Shani, hoping to strike his back. Much to his disbelief, the Death Knight shifted again, and the weapon did not even make a scrape as it zoomed by. That frustrated Kidoumaru to no end before he and Jiroubo practically surrounded him by encircling skillfully. Shani grunted with annoyance as those bastards became unquestionably disturbing, and not only were they unpredictable, they were doing quite a marvelous job at pissing him off.

"Let's get him without Tayuya!" shouted Jiroubo energetically from behind Shani as a minor distraction. Once Shani took out his scythe in an attack position to strike the fat elite, his senses noticed the spherical breaker was coming at him at the right -fast.

_Crap. _

He was tricked! Not wasting any more of his time, the crazed young demon hastily glided back while firing a series of Mana Flares hoping to alter the course of the wired cannon ball. Little did he know, the spherical breaker –and the wire- was coating with an anti-chakra coating where it had the capability of deflecting beams. With no luck in sight –and the breaker was travelling faster than his glide-, Shani had no choice but to defend it by knocking it away with his long blade.

As a result, Jiroubo –who did not expect this- was struck by the spherical breaker at the gut.

"Hey!" the squad leader yelled, raw fury covered every corner of his tone, "What the damn hell was that!"

"You're the idiot for standing there! Learn how to move, baka!" Kidoumaru yelled back as he reached a distance away from Shani before shower him with a rain of venomous webs. "I'll kill you this time, kono-yaro!" Showers came down like a waterfall, and the Death Knight narrowed his visible right eye as his arms immediately tightened his grip onto the scythe. Just inches before the arts of entanglement struck him, Shani forced himself to the maximum as he barely had enough time to form a Mana Shield. Even so, the force and power of Kidoumaru's assault pushed him downward further than expected.

During this confusion, Jiroubo took this perfect opportunity to chain.

"Eat it!" Jiroubo screamed with chakra generated in his legs, attempting to make a devastating stomp that could tear off limbs due to the heat. A loud searing clash of chakra mixtures could be heard as he stomped on the highly fortified shield, but yet it did not seem to crack. Just seconds before Shani lustful smile changed into a grimace of hate, Jiroubo stomped again before shattering the shield into shards of useless energy. Henceforth, Jiroubo finally dealt some great damage. His fears came to reality when someone forcefully made a death grip on his leg, he wanted to scream with pain but he was silenced when he heard an insane cry, and soon a spearhead plowed through his stomach.

"Jiroubo!" cried the arachnid male in the air frantically.

"You afraid?" questioned Shani, speaking for the first time. "Don't worry, he's still alive."

"What…" Kidoumaru then saw his comrade disappearing into a cloud of smoke. "The Replacement Technique? No way…" Suddenly, the real Sound nin appeared right next to him, but judging from his breathing, he knew that was just way too close. If Shani assaulted one second earlier, he really would've been a goner.

"Damn you!" cursed Jiroubo as he generated enough chakra in his palm to make a bomb. "You dare to take me that lightly!" Obviously, he showed no hesitation when he whipped it at Shani. Once again, the Death Knight escaped it with ease as he soared into the skies, but he would give credit to the bomb for making such a significant explosion. Taking his scythe into a striking stance, Shani leveled it above his head as he instantaneously appeared right in front of Jiroubo without any provocation. In other words, the chubby ninja was screwed.

"Teme!" a scream abruptly came from the rear. Fury was all that yelled held, it wasn't amazingly hard to figure out. "Obliterate!" In that clumsy posture, Shani had no chance to defend or move away, and the spherical breaker smashed cleanly at his spine, knocking him off course rolling away without any control. No doubt the demon knight gasped painfully, whether he was crazed or not, pain was pain. However, due to his state of corruption, Shani did not gasp though, instead, he was laughing like a maniac.

"He seems to like the damage…" Jiroubo stated, amazed.

"This guy keeps getting weirder and weirder each time."

"Yeah…" The squad leader soon blasted another wave at Shani, but only to be slashed and nullified before the Death Knight gained flight towards his location. Jiroubo gasped with fear as the demon's speed continued to increase with each passing millisecond, and within one second, he was already in front of him while still plastering his face with that hateful grin. Pulling the scythe above his head, he slashed. In one swipe, Shani made one long, deep cut in his chest, and another kick into the face only served as utmost satisfaction.

Kidoumaru, on the other hand, found it as an action of scorning. He swooped downward rashly before yelling at the top of his lungs to commence his onslaught.

"Bastard!" Kidoumaru shouted from below while gathering chakra into his mouth for a burst. He looked down for one second so Shani would not be able to see what was hidden within, yet the demon child positively had knowledge that he was planning something. In all honesty, no one had the time to look down during a fight –especially when their life was on the line. "Poison Cobweb!" A corrosive blast of poison blasted from the small gap of his mouth as he looked upward again before the beam formed into a wider cone. Anything in its path would instantly turn into decay if it made contact. To be precise, it was powerful enough to melt metal.

Kidoumaru scoffed cockily as Shani was consumed in it, but he soon stopped when he saw someone within it coming straight at him with some sort of magic deflectors with unknown powers. He safely assumed that shield itself required much energies to form, and even though he added more power to his blast, it was still utterly useless. Needless to say, Kidoumaru was too shocked to move. However, once seeing the demonic scythe slashing in from the left, Kidoumaru quickly forced himself to lower his head to preserve his life, but it was not good enough to evade the kick that crushed his face.

"Kuso!" the Sound arachnid archer cried painfully as he descended due to force.

Falling downward in a quick pace, the spider shinobi immediately used his right arms and shot out three webs by preparing to throw Shani down by using gravity and thrust. Much to his disbelief, once his webs were centimeters from sticking onto the reflectors, Kidoumaru couldn't grasp what happened when those webs actually moved away on its own as if the shield was magnetic. Not only did his attempt fail; he was still falling fast! Having no other choice, he had to fly -but not without seeing what the Death Knight was attempting to perform from above.

Kidoumaru knew that unique seal… that was Asuran's Dragon Fire no jutsu seal… this was bad indeed. Asuran was powerful, but his aim was not perfect. However, this was Shani, he had to be extra cautious.

Out of the blue, a cold blast of lightning came from a distance in a curve. Shani only knew one other person who could curve their beams, and that was no other than Tayuya. Immediately, the Death Knight collected a portion of his chakra before forming a reflector on his left, thus the plasma attacks was blocked successfully. Much to his disbelief, another one of her bursts came from the front, and in spite of how badly he wanted to get out of that situation, he had to defend. Like the previous scenario, his Different Dimension Reflectors effortlessly deflected the beam.

Needless to say, Tayuya was outraged and very discouraged.

Seeing that his Dragon Fire no Jutsu was cancelled by disruption of other nuisances, Shani –with pure frustration and lust- flew off for the girl. Noticing that her opponent had instantly switched targets, the flute musician had no other options but to hold him off alone. Immediately increasing her guard, she blasted him without any hesitation or half-heartedness. Shani only guffawed as he slanted to evade her minor onslaught. At the same time, the spider abomination finally regained his composure, and he thanked Tayuya for rescuing him so far. Although Kidoumaru was saved, that didn't go the same for Tayuya.

Fueled with agitation and hate, Tayuya engaged her hateful enemy with no intentions to back down. She slashed, swiped, scratched, kicked, punched, scraped, lashed, and nothing was hitting him. She didn't believe it, nor did she ever want to. He was so different from yesterday, and it freaked her out inside, but with obvious reasons she would never show it. The flute musician yelled in pain as the Death Knight used his elbow and rammed into her chest, and soon she wanted to vomit when his palm used a Jyuuken on her chin. With just one strike, she felt her system was disrupted.

Fortunately, Shani did not succeed to strike her chakra system since her trident blocked her body.

"He's a Hyuga, Tayuya!" warned Kidoumaru as he twirled evasively before lashing out his spike breaker at Shani's chest. Again, it smashed effectively against him, and fortunately for the Sound members, the bashing strength caused Shani to be shot back somewhat in a stun.

_This guys… kuso!_

The Death Knight's firm posture was ungracefully lost while giving Tayuya some time to recover. Although Kidoumaru told her about the Hyuga fact, the Sound girl did not know what kind of blasphemy he was talking about. Moreover, his words dissolved before it reached her ears. As a matter of fact, she didn't give a damn who he was, she would take him down regardless –moreover, she would wish that she had listened earlier.

"I don't give a fuck, Kidoumaru!" she retorted rudely as she charged up for her plasma lightning and fired in a cunning curve. She winced when Shani flew away with the beam just almost brushed his arm off, how did he come around this soon after the shock? It was three on one and they weren't even winning! She didn't like this; and Tayuya was utmost convinced that her comrades weren't relishing this either. Groaning with irritation, she recklessly fired her energy flares continuously while not once considering her own chakra problems and capacity. Capacity wasn't much of an issue, she had plenty of chakra to spare, but she couldn't help but grunt and whine when her attacks –despite how tricky and cunning- weren't hitting at all.

"Calm down, Tayuya!" ordered Jiroubo as he landed on ground before hurling a small boulder at the swift Death Knight. After sensing a hostile aura from the ground, Shani glided as the rock whizzed by him giving off a cool night breeze. That did not stop Jiroubo from trying a second time though, but his eyes bulged when the outcome of his next attempt was a beam scythe dividing the rock cleanly into halves.

"Bastard, bastard, bastard!" the Sound girl cursed numerous of times as she fired again with her trident. She could not help herself but to feel mad seeing her enemy enjoying this so much. They were elites, and this was such a deliberate insult to their skills and rank. Her body temperatures rose within her, and it merely agitated her greatly. "Why won't you die!" In absolute outrage, the Sound girl –while lacking all means of self control- now bent every single one of her beams as she fired. It zoomed by Shani up and down; from the side; from behind; from above and below; from the front; and each escaped blast frustrated her further and further. Her eyes displayed pure hate, veins now developed on her temple, hands, and wrists, and not to mention all sorts of rational thinking were vanishing quickly.

A preposterous Tayuya was one bitch that should be dealt with by all means necessary.

Shani was more or less amused at this counter attack. Was she trying to show her cunning abilities, or was she just being reckless. Reckless was more like it when her energy streams were flying all over the place, and Shani saw that some of them nearly struck her comrades. Having an enemy that would destroy his enemies willingly… who needed friends? Although that may be true, the young Death Knight had to praise that she had very good accuracy for he did quite a bit of defending –some of it even struck him hard despite his constant movements. Even so, it would take more than that to take him down, and judging from Kidoumaru's face, Shani could tell he was agitated to a high degree.

At that moment, Shani flashed a profound smirk when he blocked another assault using a Mana Shield. If that was considered a deathblow, they had a long way to go before they could take him out of the game.

"Watch it, Tayuya!" warned Jiroubo halting as one of her beams rushed by from above. If that ray struck his head, his life would've ended.

"What the hell are you doing, baka!" the spider monstrosity demanding a justifiable reason from her. Weren't allies supposed to help each other? Why was she trying to take him out as well?

Tayuya was too acrimonious to listen. Their sentences and voices became nothing more than screeches that she wanted to block off. "Shut up!" the girl thundered furiously as she powered her trident once more before unleashing one of her deathblow attacks that had the strength to electrocute anything beyond expectations.

This time, however, when the beam got real close, the Death Knight pulled his scythe back as he destroyed it by shattering it in one single counter. All too easy, as Shani would comment. It all happened in one split second, that was definitely not something fortunate. Admirable, yes, but advantageous… no. Tayuya watched in fear as he charged at her without wasting haste, Shani was ready to eradicate.

_**(At that instant)**_

Someone was already prepared without Shani's knowledge. "Let's go!" Kidoumaru suddenly shouted from higher altitude, coming from nowhere, "Take this!"

Spinning his spherical breaker quickly to achieve smashing strength before fully slamming it at Shani's wings. The arachnid male cursed when his attack did nothing –or nearly nothing. He realized it when the moonlight actually radiated off his pitch-black wings, it meant that the density was incredibly resistant. Kidoumaru wouldn't lie if he said everything about Shani pissed them off.

"You gotta do better," said Shani with silent mockery. "I'm over here."

"Shut up, you!"

Knowing that if he didn't go all out now, all three of them may not see daylights again. Doing what was wise, the spider Sound nin pulled out his own specialized tanned kunais –which looked like it was forged with wood- with his six arms before whipping them as suppressing fire. His attacks didn't end there for he continued to throw madly; numbers were the only thing that may make that Death Knight not able to escape.

The next flash of events was pure astonishment to the Three when Shani decided to actually fight it head on, and in addition, he performed a distinct attack that only members with his blood could use. "Jyukken…" the Forbidden child murmured before activating his Byakugan in his uncorrupted eye, "Divination Field 64 Strikes." Putting his scythe away into his back, a very immensely condensed green chakra field with the Yin and Yang symbol could be seen around Shani like an aura. Surely, the Three had no goddamn idea of what that was. At minimum, they were certain it was definitely hostile. Their puzzlement continued to increase when the demon child formed this suspicious stance.

Despite that weird attack stance, that certainly did not stop Kidoumaru from whipping kunais. Like Shani, he was very obstinate, and he was not someone who knew how to forfeit that simply. "Die!"

The kunais were close, and yet that blasted demonic devil was floating there in his stance with his eyes closed! Kidoumaru, Tayuya, and Jiroubo's faces grew anxiously as the blades were about to hit crucial spots. However, Shani's right eye immediately flared up. "2 strikes!" shouted the Death Knight as two daggers exploded when he stabbed it with his chakra generated fingers, "4 strikes!" This time four kunais shattered within a time that was within the one second mark. His hands were moving like magic, and Three knew their odds diminished further. Anyone knew if they were the ones that were being stabbed, they would pray to Kami-sama and attend church every Sunday if they lived. "8-Strikes!" 8 daggers this time were destroyed.

"Help me, damn it!" ordered Kidoumaru seeing his attempts were futile unless some assistance was given. Despite how troublesome it may be, the other two forced themselves to work like a team. They had one common goal, and that was to take Shani down. However, they did not understand why this demon was this powerful. Rather, how was he getting all his strength from?

Was that why Akira wanted to capture it?

"Choke on this!" Jiroubo taunted as he and Tayuya selected all the ninja tools they had on them before lashing all of them at Shani in a fashion similar to a legion. A nobody or a rookie would be killed without doubt, there was no way to come out of it alive even with incredible agility or attack rate. Oblivious to the Three, this was just child's play compared to the Death Knight.

"I'm not hungry," said Shani before shattering the next thirty two kunais that wastefully approached him. He grinned anxiously as the eye of the storm was heading his way, this would indeed be utmost entertaining. "Divination Field 64 Strikes!" As soon as his hands stabbed like lightning, 64 of the first weapons ignited into bits. The Three now really wanted to flinch, but they had no time to do so when the divine field symbol miraculously increased its size while revealing another set of foreign descriptions.

Whatever this was, it was not showing promises of weakness.

"Divination Field…" said Shani while still striking all the incoming weapons at the best of his ability. The numbers were limitless, and in truth, he was actually having a hard time defending himself. "128 strikes!" Those words echoed in the Sound Three's ears like a roar or sting before the young Death Knight immediately destroyed the line of suppressing fire by sundering all the weapons into fragments of uselessness. Once effective tools were now considered trash, and what intrigued Shani ecstatically was that it all happened in a matter of seconds.

What a waste, what a pity.

The winged demon had used up enough of his time on these guys, it was finally time to do what he initially came for… kill them for their blood.

Taking out one of his many knives in his belt, Shani purged it with a dark chakra before tossing it like a boomerang at Tayuya. In a desperate attempt to defend herself, the girl hurriedly made a small chakra shield with her left hand hoping to block that devious Shadow Strike. She wanted to squeak when the beam knife made a clean cut on her shield -nearly penetrating it and hacking off her hand- but it was then when she really should have been screaming when Shani suddenly appeared 18 inches before her.

Laughing at her misfortune and disadvantage, Shani performed one snappy slash forcefully before breaking her trident in two.

To make things worse, the winged devil then leveled his foot before rushing it to her stomach, and in perfect coordination, the Forbidden child swiftly pushed his palm into her breasts before blasting her with a few Mana Burns. In a mere second, most of her chakra was burned away and used against her. Bolts of torment purged her systems immediately, and now she was more or less defenseless.

In one loud airy wheeze, the Sound girl had her head down with no power whatsoever to continue battling.

Jiroubo was outraged. "Tayuya!" He detected limited energies were still left in her. "Damn…" Signaling to Kidoumaru quickly, the arachnid subordinate obediently dived down with his leader hoping to rescue their comrade that was in Shani's grasp. Just as Kidoumaru wanted to whip his weapon, he immediately slowed down when he noticed a palm was aiming right at them.

Not even taking a glimpse –he was still looking at the girl-, Shani delivered a downpour of Mana Burns upward to the other two as a gift. Jiroubo was struck bad in the arms and legs, but fortunately, his didn't suffer from high chakra disruption. Kidoumaru quickly stopped his body from descending painfully before lengthening his spherical breaker wire, and he spun the weapon in a rapid whirl repeatedly to defend.

The beams were all deflected with ease as a result.

Kidoumaru had to thank the person who invented anti-chakra coating, he strongly believed now that the inventor was a genius.

Whether the Mana Burns killed off the opposing forces or not, it gave Shani the time to prepare. Plowing his palm into Tayuya's face, Shani blasted her with an igniting force that sent her soaring into the distance. He almost felt sorry for her, what a pity that he couldn't taste her precious blood. That only meant he had to treasure the other two just a little bit more.

_One down… two to go._

"Later." That was all the Uzumaki warrior said as Tayuya's screams became fainter and fainter. This was no joke, if Tayuya hit ground now, she would easily be killed.

"Tayuya!" Jiroubo yelled helplessly when he realized that he had failed to help her.

"Damn it!" cried Kidoumaru before lashing out his spider webs recklessly. Despite how hard Shani's devil wings may be, webs could still stick into it without a hassle. The spider freak cackled sinisterly when his webs glued onto the devil's back. "I got you, bastard!"

"What?" Shani asked himself rhetorically before being pull down powerfully and practically slammed into a tree trunk with his spine making the impact first. Needless to say, that was not too welcoming. In addition, Jiroubo immediately took this opportunity and raced at full speed towards the defenseless Forbidden child, and in less than one second –knowing what kind of insane agility Shani may have if he arrived the slightest bit late- the chubby leader struck the demon's face with an uppercut. A stream of blood trailed as he soared to the skies. Once Shani was in the air again, Kidoumaru immediately engaged him instead of looking for Tayuya.

It wasn't like Kidoumaru didn't care for his comrade. On the contrary, he was concerned. However, she was an elite, and in theory, she should be able to take care of herself. Moreover, if he left Jiroubo to deal with this disgusting, despicable, frightening monstrosity alone, the next time Kidoumaru would see him again would be at his funeral –provided that Shani did not kill him now.

"Watch out…" the raiding shinobi hissed tauntingly as he surrounded the Death Knight in a form of chaotic puzzlement. Shani obviously grunted at Kidoumaru's speed, but not before he found him taking out his bow, pulling back and screaming in a mad yell. "Kill!"

During that confusion, the insect monstrosity drew back and fired with his crossbow and four-foot long arrow. Knowing what kind of piercing strength Kidoumaru's assault contained, Shani –although frenzied- quickly made an evasion as the arrow zoomed by his head by a miss of a mere inch. Kidoumaru might be furious, but he had persistent and endurance. If his arrows did not work, he would try something different, and so he lashed out his spherical breaker. Kidoumaru cheered to himself as the weapon struck Shani's back hard, yet he recoiled when Shani's use of Phase Shift completely rendered the attack useless.

At the same time, the squad leader leaped to the air with the required amount of chakra needed to fire. Once he positioned himself in a short distance, he unleashed his own plasma beam identical to Tayuya's –the only difference would be that it did not curve, but it was even more concentrated.

There was no way the Forbidden child would take hits from that. Gathering all possible insights and knowledge, Shani assumed that the cannon beam could easily tear off his flesh. Otherwise, he could've merely countered it. His Byakugan never lied. Immediately twirling and shifting without thinking –or rather demanding his body to move-, Shani cringed his eye when he felt the heat of it. He wanted to refocus despite his dangerous state, moreover, he found it impossible when he detected a presence diving down from behind.

"Damn you!" howled Kidoumaru coming down in a plunge hurriedly while blasting webs and rays regardless if they hit. Although Shani may have escaped the beams, he certainly did not evade the swinging kick collision that jammed his ribs. Kidoumaru laughed victoriously as he glided off, leaving Shani to die in his teammate's hands.

"Kuso!" cursed Shani, wincing in agony while his hands gripped his now nearly broken ribs.

"Get back on ground, Jiroubo!" said the spider archer, making a turn with his hand containing enough chakra. "I'll distract him!"

"What?" questioned the leader.

"Just do it!"

"Roger." Jiroubo said back before landing back to the forests to provide covering fire. He watched Kidoumaru closely with no carelessness, he just hoped that his comrade could buy enough time like planned.

On ground, the squad leader did as he was told and tried his best to support his friend. However, Jiroubo was having a difficult time trying to fulfill his end of the bargain. He of course wanted to finish things off with a full blast, yet he lacked the necessary timing and space when Kidoumaru kept coming in from random directions. Each time he was about to fire, Kidoumaru would whiz right by, thus screwing up his opportunities and timing. If he kept this up, he wouldn't be a useful support attacker, he would be a sitting duck until Shani came for him.

"Move it, Kidoumaru!" Jiroubo scolded with frustration dripping from his tone. His friend was not pleased to hear it, how dare he complain about his judgments in combat? What was he trying to do, screw them both over? If the leader had some wits, Kidoumaru advised him to shut up.

"Sheesh, do you want to capture this guy or what?" the insect-like Sound nin countered before changing his flying stance into like a bird's. "Watch this." Generating more chakra into his free hands, Kidoumaru grinned to himself before a small energy blade came out of his hands like a small claw. Not liking this one bit, the Death Knight activated his deflector by performing a swipe using his left hand. In one swooping dive, Kidoumaru crashed into Shani's Different Dimension Reflector with full intensity before utilizing the reflective force of the reflector to propel him back into the air.

Long story short, although Kidoumaru did not inflict any damage, the main purpose was to force Shani to falter, and he noticed his plan was a success when the demon's defense was lost. Also, the boy was falling with no means to help himself.

Now was the ideal time to give back some rightful resistance.

"Take this!" shouted Jiroubo, firing his plasma at full blast when he saw a clear opening. As of result, Shani was shot. No jokes, no escape, and he was hit directly at the chest area. The critical blast was devastatingly hot, and the arachnid male felt the pain by being a tad bit too close. Giving everything he had within his drained body, Kidoumaru quickly glided back without second thoughts.

Just to make sure Shani was suffering, Kidoumaru prepared his own little scheme. His face clearly showed detesting hatred when he saw the Death Knight was actually blocking Jiroubo's plasma with his bare hands. Although he was struggling, that demon bastard was actually standing his ground! He was retaliating to survive; blood soaked his fingers as the heat nearly dissolved the skin; the wave itself was now affecting his flesh; Shani was dying. Using every possible ounce of strength he may still have, the Death Knight slowly managed to create a small barrier around his hands. Despite the size, it was sufficient enough to keep his hands in tact, but yet Shani knew better than to delay.

Meanwhile, Kidoumaru could see that his enemy was holding on, and without some assistance Jiroubo's attack may be in vain. This guy was really testing his tolerance, as he would say, and he had been alive for too long. How dare he humiliate them and expect to get out of all this in one piece? As long as Kidoumaru was still drawing air from this existence, he sworn to make Shani's life increasingly tormenting –or at least die trying. If help was what his leader needed, then aid would be delivered.

"Demon!" Kidoumaru declared in a huff as he yanked out his bow arduously before arming. "Back down!" Not even considering the outcomes of this, the insect specialist powered his arrows with burning chakra before shooting out three of them rashly. The shots used a lot of resistance; therefore, the speeds were at the extreme. His aim was marvelous despite his awkward position, and the outcome was the three arrows rushed through Shani's right shoulder along with a rainfall of blood coming shortly after.

No geniuses were needed to understand that tearing flesh wounds were no laughing matter.

"Such an annoying bastard!" the squad leader roared as he continued his assault by firing a plasma beam. This time it was not aimed for Shani's chest, but for his left devil wing. Once the dangerous attack struck the target, it instantly plowed through the wing like Styrofoam (In some cases, some may regard it as shearing). Shani felt a part of himself was torn apart.

No doubt the Death Knight was now at the verge of death despite his strength. In just three blows, the game turned completely around.

To Shani's discomfort, the arachnid male also decided charged up chakra… but this time, it was in his mouth. "Teme!" In one loud yell, Kidoumaru fired his own plasma cannon right at the helpless Death Knight without any regrets or guilt. Hell, he felt nothing whatsoever when his fired his beam at Shani's face. The young demon wanted to yell, but all it came out was in a cackle and laughter. One thing was for certain though, the burning feeling surged through his entire system. He felt his face was melting within the beam, and he certainly knew this blast was shooting him out of the sky. He had no strength to retaliate, he could barely open his eyes now, yet at the same time it was when he was finally starting to wake up from all this.

Shani desired to scream when all was lost.

If it was his time to leave this place, then let it be. Kami-sama must've had a reason for his life to end, and Shani wanted to end it as well for he could not accept reality any longer. If he lived, he would need to deal with Yamase and Umi, and if he perished now, peace would finally come after living twelve pitiful years. Closing his eyes, he accepted defeat and death. Just as he wanted everything to end, his wishes were not granted when his body twirled around with his face meeting the moon.

Suddenly, the Death Knight howled completely agonized when his back ignited and massive burning sensations shortly followed. Unknown to Shani, the explosion forcefully shaved off his right wing. The force was so great that it increased the soaring speeds. After thirty seconds of unwanted sailing in the skies and flying to somewhere completely unknown, everything that went up must come to a drop. When Shani hit ground –or at least he thought he did-, the Death Knight cried while blood flooded in his mouth. The pain was beyond tolerable when his body was bent to a sideway frown. He actually hit a ten feet tall small cliff, and his spine and back struck the ledge fully. It felt like something dense jamming into his nervous system, and he immediately went into a stage of unconsciousness as his body slowly slipped off before hitting the grass with a loud, helpless thump.

_**(Meanwhile)**_

Kidoumaru sneered devilishly as he cancelled his mouth cannon, and soon, he cackled with utmost satisfaction escaping his lips. To express his happiness further, he was making a very cheesy dance –which Tayuya would've whacked him if she saw such disgracefulness.

"We got him!" cheered the spider freak, punching his fist victoriously. "We actually got him!"

"That doesn't mean that he is dead, you know," corrected Jiroubo having some doubts.

"What are you talking about, baka?" he slapped his leader's back a several times with each hit harder than the last. "You saw what happened! You shot him, I cracked his shoulder blades off, you shaved off his wings, then I shot him in the face, and then I blasted his back! He's gotta be dead now." Jiroubo flinched at his teammate's confidence and judgment.

"Maybe… but…"

"No buts, fearless leader," interrupted Kidoumaru while not taking any no(s) for an answer. In reality, he didn't want his moment ruined. "If his body his in tact, he would be killed by internal damage. Trust me on this one, no one survives against my mouth plasma."

"Except me, Tayuya, Akira-sama, that sannin bastard, and Kimimaro, right?" Kidoumaru merely nodded with his usual cocky smirk, "Well, I still have some doubts about this… maybe we should've killed him by beheading him…" The arachnid male did not seem to pleased as Jiroubo continued to speak of uncertainties. "Hey, what about Tayuya? We should look for her…"

"She should be okay… knowing her… she is an elite like us after all."

"Even so, she-"

"Despite how much you want to look for her now, it's pitch black out there and we can't see a goddamn thing. I want to look for her, too, but let's get real here; we may get lost going out at this hour. Besides, we need to eliminate the Sand's reinforcements first, or Orochimaru-sama would have our hides." Jiroubo cursed to himself hearing upon the Sound sannin's name. This issue was certainly a conflict between regulations and morality, but choosing to do what was moral may be worse than following the rules. Given some time to think, maybe Kidoumaru was right. Tayuya was strong and stubborn, and there were too many things that she wanted to do before her life ended, and knowing her, she had a powerful will to live. In addition, she was an elite like them, she wouldn't fall that easily.

"I guess so…" said Jiroubo somewhat more convinced, "We would look for her after our task is done… besides, we could always cover for her and lie about her absence during the mission."

"Precisely. Come on, we have to get back," Kidoumaru then turned around and glided off. "You coming?"

The leader followed suit hesitantly, he was still somewhat worried about his close comrade. "Yeah…"

_**(The next morning)**_

The sun shined brightly like any other morning, but no one was in a delightful mood. Naruto did not sleep last night, how could he when his wife practically cried herself to sleep? Sitting on the provided mattress that was given by this encampment, Naruto began to ponder about the events that happened yesterday negatively. The Death Knight did not even know how this could've happened, could it have been preventable? For now, what mattered was to get Hinata back on track, and he knew it would be terrifically difficult when the Hyuga heiress loved her children so much. Any misfortunes that happened to Shani or Kagari, Hinata would always be there for them as the emotional healer. What would an emotional do now if the person they cherished went MIA?

Deep down, Naruto felt useless.

The demon hunter had another issue to worry about, how was he supposed to cheer Kagari up? If he knew what happened, he safely presumed that his little girl also did not have a good rest despite Asuran being there for her. How he had to thank Asuran and Itachi a little later for their continuous support for his family.

Naruto rubbed Hinata's cheek just ever so lightly, and even if her lips did form a small smile due to comfort, the Death Knight easily detected the sadness and emptiness it held. He knew his lovely Hinata all too well not to know the difference in her smiles. When her brows twitched a little bit, Naruto quickly moved his hand away believing that he had woken her up. However, his heart sank when he heard her whispers, it truly wanted to force his inner despair to cry out.

"Shani-chan…" Hinata mumbled during her sleep as her pained tears seamed out of her eyelids. "Come back… don't leave kaa-chan… don't leave kaa-chan…" Involuntarily, her hand caught his tightly before she began to clutch hard. Naruto clearly knew what she was going through, and despite her nails sinking into his skin, he would allow it to happen if it made her feel better. "Shani-chan…"

"Hinata-chan," Naruto called seeing that his wife was starting to wake up.

"Naruto?" her voice was clogged and weak.

"Good morning, Hinata."

"Naruto?" Hinata's eyes watered once again and her lips trembled with sadness. It didn't take him long to figure out that she was about to cry. "Naruto…"

"Hinata-chan, come on…" the Death Knight encouraged her in a quiet voice as his arms looped around her to embrace. "Don't be like this… I'm here."

"Naruto… is Shani-chan back?" The demon hunter truly did not want to answer that question, it hurt him to think of Shani still being out at a place where not even Hinata's sight range could reach. "Naruto… tell me. Is Shani-chan back?"

"No…" he replied, looking away like he failed as a father, "Shani is not here…"

"Is he dead? Is my Shani-chan dead?" Oh, how close she was to make him cry with her.

"I don't know… but we can search for him, Hinata-chan, we can go out ourselves to look for him!" He was disgusted at himself for being such a bad liar. Although he believed that Shani was still alive, how long could he put up this calm act? In all honesty, he wanted to weep with his wife, he hadn't cried in a long while. However, if he started to break down, who would be there to comfort Hinata and Kagari? As a father, or a responsible individual of the family, he could not let his loved ones down. Who was he to talk, his son was out there and he was still here not leaving Shani all alone and scared. "Don't worry about anything, Hinata-chan, we will find him."

Of course Hinata agreed with what her husband said, but she didn't do it too gracefully when she practically wept for an hour before she actually had the strength to start her searching. Hinata and Naruto truly hoped that everything was going to be fine, and spreading out their wings from their backs, the two elite shinobis of Konoha flew towards the West Gate's direction knowing the east side headed out to the seas.

* * *

Elsewhere, Kidoumaru and Jiroubo were already awake after their short slumber. As expected, a large group of shinobis was heading from the west. Kidoumaru smirked seeing this, there were so many of them, and all of them appeared weak. What intrigued the two Sound nins was that the Kazekage was among them, this would prove interesting indeed. They wondered how strong the Kazkage was, and taking her life would be utmost rewarding. 

Who said the ugly must envy the beautiful, Kidoumaru and Jiroubo would prove that remark wrong when they pummel Temari to the ground.

The situation's dangers increased another notch when Temari was essentially oblivious that assassins were hiding nearby.

* * *

_**(During this time)**_

Meanwhile, someone was starting to wake up at the northern parts of the forests that was at least 25 kilometers away from Konoha after a malicious night of chaos. Long explanation short, Hinata's Byakugan could not reach this area until she arrived. He tried moving his right hand, but he gasped when the pain in his shoulders still had not gone away. Fortunately, it was drastically better than last night when he got shot, and the burning sensation only meant that he was healing. He truly believed that a good night's sleep would cure anything, but it appeared that a demon's strength had its limits, just like he would not be able to regenerate an arm if it was hacked off.

_Where the hell am I?_

Shani's body was hurt all over, his left arm was weak; breathing made his chest ache; he figured out that his wings had retracted back inside to his body when he became unconscious, and when he attempted to stretch them out, he felt his bones were tearing apart. In other words, his wings were messed up until further notice or repaired. Yet, he did not open his eyes yet for sleep still lingered in his mind, at the same time, his face was feeling very comfortable.

_Why did I do that… damn!_

Regardless of his injuries, he knew he was smiling. He felt so secure, so safe, and he was warm. He figured a pair of arms were wrapped around him when his back clearly felt something was there. It was soft, and the lovingness of it sure made him believe that he was home… it reminded him of Hinata, his own mother. Also, this could be Yamase… or even Umi… he didn't know, but what he did know was that this sensation really made him believe that yesterdays onslaught and madness were nothing but a nightmare… a bad dream.

He moved his head a little closer comfortably until his entire face made contact with something incredibly soft. If this was his mother, he should not have touched her breasts yet, but also, the feeling of this was kind of peculiar. Shani was no pervert, but when Hinata gave him those big motherly hugs, she would frequently crush him into herself playfully and then coo him. So, needless to say, he knew his mother's delicate breasts –which a vast majority of men want to put their dirty hands on- and these were different. The Death Knight's face burned when the person's hands squeezed him harder.

His mind went to work immediately. He knew this could not be Tsubasa for she never held him this close ever. He quickly switched his targets to Umi or Yamase, but he safely assumed that none of them would make such a bold move. Was it his sister then? It certainly was like Kagari to pull of some of these stunts for she often sneaked into his bed during the night. When he woke up each time, his face would be kissing hers or he would be trapped in her luscious developing cleavage. However, come to think of it, this felt like an older woman's chest… and even without looking he could tell they were larger than Kagari's.

At that moment, Shani felt his face being pushed further into that incredible softness, and no doubt he could not breathe. He was suffocating with a face that was as red as a strawberry; partially it was due to timidity, but more so it was because of uneasiness. His demonic lungs were burning while lacking air as those hands tightened the embrace, making Shani more helpless. Despite how comfortable –or discomforting to a great degree-, the Death Knight needed his air, and more importantly, he needed to wake up.

Once he slowly opened his eyes, he blushed a deep, dark red when he saw his face was being smothered by a pair of breasts. However, fear came along when he saw the clothing. This girl was wearing a tight orange-red T-shirt underneath that outlined her bra-line finely. Judging from the pattern… Shani knew her lingerie was attractive. He cursed having to be babysitted by Kakashi one day recently, and that pervert did not cease telling him everything he knew about women. The masked jounin believed Shani was too collected and isolated, and his theory was that maybe women would lighten him up.

Sure, it lightened him up all right, it lightened him up indeed. All those lessons about controlling lust certainly came to good use. However, he only learned how to lose his control, and he should not hold back whatsoever if he wanted to terminate Kakashi. How deliciously evil and intriguing that was, and that so-called copy genius was fearing for his life that day. Shani had to give him credit for being called a genius, he was sure quick-witted when it came to running away and hiding. Was that really his father's sensei at one point? In addition, the side effect was that the pervert's words trapped into his deep sub-consciousness.

Just damn Kakashi and his corrupted ideals.

His right eye moved a bit to the side, he now jolted when he noticed that her outer shirt was actually torn apart in the middle by something at the chest area. His knowledge soon made him assume that the shirt was shaved off due to a beam, even cuts made by rocks or branches never had this kind of affect. Maybe that was why her undershirt was exposed that much, but his vigilance came back when he recalled this colour… it was beige, and a size or two too large for her. He knew this colour well; that was what those Three were wearing during the fights. Suddenly, Shani's face was drained of colour when he guessed who this person was.

It was no longer that hard now, there was only one girl in the Sound squad… he just hoped it wasn't true, it couldn't be! With fear as the driving force for him to peek up, Shani hesitantly moved upwards to see the person's face. First the stomach area, then her sizeable, attractive twins, her chest, neck… throat… lips… and lastly her entire visage. Nervousness continued its torment until the very end.

As soon as the young Death Knight met her face, he paled up when this person was really who he thought it was. It was indeed Tayuya, and she was sleeping serenely while pressing him to sink into her breasts further. Shani's wanted to faint and never wake up again. To the minimum, he would not look at breasts the same way.

One would assume that this was heaven –Kakashi would be the best candidate- and Shani was very sickened at himself for being in such a position. As far as he was concerned, this was Tayuya, his enemy that he wanted to kill for the betterment of Konoha. No, he backtracked a little bit more, the real question was that why the hell was she here? Why was she sleeping next to him? Why in bloody hell was she hugging him and forcing his face into her mounds of softness? Nothing made sense at all! However, what agitated him mostly was his reaction when he saw the girl was Tayuya.

Shani certainly knew his wasn't moving out of her grasp yet. He wasn't acting like himself, otherwise, he should have been free by now. Yet, Shani was still there, inhaling her sweet, womanly scent.

While arguing with himself, his right lavender eye moved up to her hair and closed eyes. The Death Knight cheeks burned again dangerously when he saw her without that android-like helmet. She had long, gorgeous strawberry blond hair that flowed peacefully; the smoothness rivaled his mother's hair, and also stood well against Chaos'. Each strand tempted his curiosity to touch it, and her skin was not pale, it was not dark, it suited her perfectly. With her hands snaking around his body, Shani could tell that her skin and hands were gentle and lovable. Nervously moving down his view, he shivered when he saw her sizeable chest, and a hidden emotion flared in him when he studied her desirable body. He felt this way when he met Chaos properly without her rage and hate, and Shani was certain that Kagari's demon master was the most beautiful demon he had ever met.

Shani knew he was staring the entire time, yet he didn't care, Tayuya was not awake after all. Watching a woman with such eyes was an act of shame, but his mind refused to cope with him despite his protests. He wanted to look at her, she was just so… she was so different, and Shani could not keep his eyes off her body that tested all his self control and tolerance. The Forbidden child then opened his eyes in realization, what the heck was he doing? This was an outrage; he couldn't be all soft and admiring –especially when this was his enemy. He commanded himself to get out of this awkward entanglement, but when he saw her sleeping face again, all the anger slowly drained itself away.

Shani did not believe at what he just did! He allowed his rage to vanish, why did he do it when he never showed mercy to anyone?

_She beautiful… so beautiful…_

What was that? He did not know how he could ever imagine such thoughts! No, Shani could not allow this to purge his mind, Tayuya was not beautiful, she was a member of the Sound, someone that he must kill, that was his goal when she survived after three engagements, and now with her displaying such weakness, Shani must destroy her!

_Yet, I'm not doing a thing about it… _

At this point, he was still in her embrace with his face still in contact with her breasts, he was allowing her to secure him more and more, and most importantly, Shani truly believed that she was the most beautiful girl he had seen. In addition, how was this gorgeous, loving girl be a member of the Sound? Wasn't her gentleness wasted? Shani could not help himself but to pity her despite he knew nothing about Tayuya.

Despite all this, the Death Knight was quite frightened when Tayuya actually woke up. If he knew women… what would a girl do when she found a male stranger's face in one of their forbidden areas? Somehow, Shani predicted the outcome would be chaotic, but his thoughts were cut short when Sound girl unintentionally hugged him even closer to her breasts again. His face carried another deep blush without question. Shani could not breathe once more, and the cause of it was the softest things on her body. So soft, so luscious, yet it was smothering him. He cried and shouted, but it came out as blocked muffles. He didn't dare to open his mouth to bite her, yet he knew air was not entering his system, and he was quite sure that she would not loosen her grip anytime soon. Once he lacked the air for the longest time possible, he closed his eyes while drifting back into unconsciousness.

Oblivious to the Forbidden child, Tayuya drifted her head towards his closer. Each time she was taking in a breath –with that serene smile- she would plant her lips on his forehead, giving him sweet, accidental kisses that threatened Shani to lose his cool. Her kisses matched her seductiveness terribly.

Being a passive individual, he seriously did not know if he should consider this heaven or living nightmare. All Shani could do now was cautiously preparing for the worst…

_**AN: Sorry to leave you all at another goddamn cliff that may be solved in the next month. Hey, this chapter was over 20 thousand words long, I have to end it or I might as well produce a novel in one chapter. One of the toughest chapters that I had to write, at first, I actually had trouble with all the fluff and crap. However, when I started reading Ichigo 100 the manga, all sorts of stuff came to mind. I would not list those, you guys should get the manga yourselves so you can be the judge. Nevertheless, this chapter was fun to write. I love Love-Triangles, but I think I like Love-Rectangles more. Oh, the complexities.**_

_**It would be a pleasure if you leave me a message, and I will see all of you guys next time. I don't think there is much meaning for me to linger here any longer than necessary. Like I said… the next chapter would be made in later this May, or the beginning of June. Believe, Realize, Reason requires my attention ASAP. Once again, I hope you liked this chapter of mine.**_


	8. Atrocious Dawn

_**Downfall of the Light 3**_

_Chapter 8: Atrocious Dawn_

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I've said it more than enough times in my life already.

**_AN: Yes, another chapter done because of your continuous support! Arigato, arigato! Despite that this series is not that great or popular, I suppose I will still finish it regardless since I have come this far. I know this chapter is like a month late, well, it's getting difficult to write 2 stories. The next update will more than likely to be in June or July or some shit within that category –I got to work on my Seed fic now, people are getting a tad bit too impatient, nor do I have the intentions to keep them waiting for too long. Regardless of whatever my problem is, I am glad to have finished this chapter for you guys._**

_Thanks to the following people for motivating me to continue and endure: Arurisonu Akane, Dragon Man 180, jasx316, violinmana, FluteMaster, warprince2000, Oris, nonegel, thelaterreader, Metacarius, naruto-fanfic, AnimeFanAngel, D.D Designator, Forbidden, FlamingChronicles, LightHope, and DaveBoo1378!_

**_And those who hope to see a perverted scene (not necessarily a lemon) between Shani and Tayuya, let's just say I saved it for the next chapter. Sorry, gomen! I know I can be a pervert, so I know that scene will be here soon. Probably it would be up in a month or 3 weeks._**

_**Additional AN: You are still here? What are you doing? Read already!**_

**_(At the Konoha Encampment)_**

Kagari was worried sick. She didn't want to believe what really happened last night, but she knew better than to doubt what Chaos and Umi told her. She should've been there with him despite that the marriage issue was private. Kagari should not have left her oni-chan alone. Now this mess erupted and Shani was now assumed to be killed. No, that could not be, Shani was too strong to be killed, he just couldn't leave this world like that.

Without knowing, she was mumbling Shani's name over and over again while she was having breakfast with Asuran. The young Uchiha rushed to her side before embracing her, and when she felt the close comfort, the Uzumaki girl wept out loud. It crushed the boy's heart to see his admirer (or possibly lover) like this, it didn't suit her at all. Kagari should be delightful and happy; cheering on other people despite they fail or succeed; be the light of the crowd… but now, she was down, very down.

"Kagari…" whispered Asuran to her ear while her head was down. "Kagari…"

She finally raised her head from her slouching. The girl was somewhat taken aback when she suddenly found him beside her. "Asuran?" The Uchiha was glad that he had a response from her; he thought he had killed herself from her own melancholy. Then again, Kagari was never the type to dwell in her own sadness and then pointlessly wasting herself before she could truly enjoy life.

"You okay, Kagari?" he asked her holding her closely.

"I'm fine…" she told him as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Asuran… is Shani back yet?"

The golden eyed Uchiha coughed immediately; he wasn't expecting such a question this quickly. What could he tell her? To the very least, it was better than to lie. "Your oni-chan…" he said sadly, he didn't have the face to tell her this –nor did he want to. "He hasn't returned…" Kagari didn't seem too stunned to hear it though.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah…"

"Then where were you last night, Asuran? I woke up for a bit last night and didn't find you here." Asuran was somewhat amazed that she was actually awake. On the other hand, with her so depressed and absorbed it was not a major stun to see her having sleeping problems.

"Searching for information on the Sound," said the prodigy of Uchiha Itachi.

"Like what?"

"Hacking through their largest secrets, that's what."

This news had caught her attention. To Asuran's surprise, Kagari's reaction was to topple on top of him. The young Uchiha's face flushed up when he saw hers ever so closely. He could nearly kiss her.

"Hacking into their biggest secrets?" she repeated in a form of a question, "What are you saying? How did you do it?"

"I have my ways," said Asuran before squirming his way out of their ungraceful position, "Tsunade-sama is looking at it right now and she told me to look for you. Despite that Shani-bastard going crazy on us, I think it's wise to take a look at what I discovered. I think it may be beneficial to us."

Seeing that Asuran was quite eager to lighten up her mood, the Uzumaki Paladin lady could not simply refuse his offer. Needless to say, Asuran had been working quite hard to see Kagari grin again, and she was utmost certain that he barely slept for her sake. She needed to get out of this deep melancholy; she wanted something to get her mind off Shani for a while although he was still missing. If she knew her precious big brother, he should be fine. She just hoped that nothing drastic had happened during his absence, and soon she followed Asuran to Tsunade's temporary office.

**_(At Tsunade's office a several minutes later)_**

"Grandmother," called Kagari as she knocked on the door as a polite act of respect, "Are you in there?"

"I came out of this room just moments before," Asuran told her in a whisper, "Of course she would be in there."

"Checking is better than not checking."

The Uchiha just slapped himself on the forehead exasperatedly.

Only one girl in this entire village called Tsunade grandmother; that would be Naruto's daughter. Hearing her sweet, gentle voice, Tsunade smiled before responding. "Kagari, come on in." Given the permission, the two adolescents swiftly entered the room. Kagari was surprised to see her grandmother today -this was the first time that she had seen the 5th Hokage in front of a computer. It wasn't like it was wrong to see someone working using a PC, it was just strange to see someone at the age of 65 or 67 in front of it.

Kagari didn't know why though –not like she was being mean or anything within those lines.

Asuran hurried himself before standing next to the Hokage -who was watching the computer screen. "So," he began with an inaudible deep breath, "Where are you now?"

"Not too far off before you went and picked up Kagari-chan," answered Tsunade to the Uchiha as she moved down the page. She didn't even notice that Kagari was beside her as well until a second later, "This is truly amazing…"

"Amazing?" questioned Asuran, cocking a brow.

"Not amazing in a good way… I would say it's more of fascinating, fascinating how the Sound has done so much for the sake of defeating us."

Kagari became curious. "Then what is the Sound planning?"

"From what I can gather here… the Sound took over the Wave for the sole reason to muster more men for their own cause. Of course, that cause is hopefully to outnumber us. At the same time, there was another reason." Asuran and Kagari listened with extreme vigilance and alert. "Their second objective was to test out their Enhanced's power."

"Enhanced?"

"Enhanced, that's right. Or rather… biological armaments."

Asuran was deeply disgusted. "Are you saying that the Wave no longer exists due to an experiment the Sound wanted to test out? This is ridiculous! Hundred, thousands of lives were wasted… and then thousands of them were forced to join the Sound… and this is all for a goddamn experiment! Tsunade-sama, what the hell are these biological armaments?"

The Hokage ignored his question for now wisely, but not before turning to the next page. When the two teens saw this, they kept their mouths shut and read along with Tsunade. "The Sound was developed out of vengeance and hate, and their leader Orochimaru is someone who despises Konoha until the day he dies. Not only that, he would do anything to influence his inhabitants to hate us as well. You can even say that this is their motto." Motto, what a bizarre word it was on this sort of logic. "With this belief in the back of people's heads, it's no doubt that everyone hates Konoha with all their heart… also, as long as Orochimaru –because he gave those people a home and life- spurns us, they would serve him loyally. Due to this hate that he has, Orochimaru tries to do everything to have the ideal warriors on his side so when the day he commences his attack on us victory would be at his hand.

"He knows well that this village has Naruto, Kagari's father, who is a demon, and Gaara of the Sand, who is also another demon. Orochimaru could tell that Konoha is one village that is hard to defeat. Not only that, Konoha has plenty of noble clans such as the Hyuga, and other clans that contain one of the most mysterious ninjutsus that other villages may not have. With these defenses and power, Orochimaru must gather more people who show more promise than our people. Sadly enough, he would do all sorts of means to have these people on his side."

"You seem to know this Orochimaru guy well, Tsunade-sama," commented Asuran, catching everything that had been given to him.

"Yeah, do you really know another?" asked Kagari with exuberant curiosity.

Once more, the Hokage avoided her question as she scrolled down further, "In order to compete against us, Orochimaru and their doctors developed a very special drug called the Grypheptan. The purpose of these things is –in theory- to increase a certain individual's strength, stamina, chakra, and agility. However, these kinds of steroids do have their drawbacks when the effects wear off… and judging from this it says that the body of the user would suffer from immense pain before their logic is lost. There is no telling what the users may do if an antidote isn't given to them after their torment."

"What a sick bastard…"

Tsunade only continued despite being sickened herself. "The Grypheptan is actually a newly developed drug when you two were born… and this drug was only safe to be used on people that have incredible amount of chakra and training… and this report says that only Orochimaru's elites had that kind of ability to withstand it properly. Later on the years, Orochimaru had enough skill to improve it so it could even preserve the user youth… so it means that those who take this medicine would be able to be young forever so they could battle for the Sound for as long as they could. When I say that, I mean when those living weapons are either killed in battle or commit suicide themselves."

"Who would do such a thing!" objected Asuran with anger flaring up inside, "This-this… bastard… and is he actually using this on humans so they could be his slaves forever?" Tsunade had no other option but to nod. This was reality, and these were the facts that she couldn't deny. Kagari felt herself shaking with moral outrage.

"I'm not done yet… the Enhanced –which are the biological weapons- are also referred to as elite soldiers of Orochimaru. There were four of them… but one of them had died during an accident many years ago. I don't know if your parents have told you before, but Itachi-kun had witnessed the Enhanced during the assault on the Wave. Although your parents may not truly know how they even look like, these files that we are hacking should have them. If you encounter them one day, I want you to take extreme caution and run away as fast as you can." Tsunade was shocked to see Kagari actually smirking.

"Don't fight them?" the Uzumaki angel inquired, scoffing slightly, "You wish. If they are part of the Sound, I will kill them."

"I don't want you risking your own life against these monstrosities, Kagari-chan," Tsunade explained for the sake of her granddaughter, "This is not some game that you can gamble on… this is your life that we are talking about. Kagari-chan, promise me that you would run away." Kagari might have nodded but her heart had no means to escape if she ever encountered these elites. For Tsunade's sake, she agreed for the time being.

"Do you think that those Enhanced freaks are present in this invasion?"

"They may be… but your father and mother said that they did not meet anyone that was extraordinarily powerful or special."

_If Father and Mother did not fight them at the West Gate… where could they be? _

"Tsunade-sama," said Asuran who had been quiet for a while, "Do you happen to have pictures on the Enhanced? I mean, it's better for us to know their faces just in case we do run into them." The Uchiha certainly brought up a valid point. In all honesty, Tsunade was quite curious to know what their appearances were like.

The Hokage then clicked at a few random places, "It should be right here… the profiles on these Enhanced…" When Tsunade made way to the profiles, Asuran and Kagari gasped audibly when 4 photos showed up on the screen. Despite that they did not know who the hell that boy was with gray hair that covered his right eye; they clearly knew who the other three were.

Kidoumaru, Jiroubo, and Tayuya, these were three damn faces that Kagari and Asuran could not forget. Tsunade watched the teens closely, and she was completely bewildered to see them this shocked and frightened. All she could do now was to find out if they were feeling fine. "Kagari-chan… Asuran, are you two okay?"

"This… this…" the dark haired girl pointed out as her finger twitched while pointing.

"These three are the Enhanced?" the Uchiha added with utter disbelief. What trickery was this? "Weren't these three the guys that we fought at the South Gate?" Kidoumaru's face made his blood boil.

The Godaime noticed their angered expressions but chose to not make a sound. Even if inquisitiveness was a powerful urge inside her at the moment, she knew when to ask questions. Obviously, this was not the time. "It says that these Enhanced elites became elite soldiers ever since they were children… and the report says that the new developed Grypheptan stopped them from ever aging again. Although they may be in their adult ages, their appearances look no different from their adolescent years."

Tsunade's explanations matched Tayuya, Jiroubo, and Kidoumaru perfectly.

"No way…" Kagari whispered to herself, "I can't believe we have been battling the Sound's top soldiers."

"What did you say, Kagari-chan?"

"Nothing, grandmother," the Uzumaki girl quickly changed the subject, "What time is it right now?"

"It's only 6:30AM," the Hokage told her granddaughter, "Where do you need to go?"

"I want to see if Yamase-chan is feeling okay about oni-chan's absence," Kagari said with her usual charming, happy smile, "Besides, I think she needs to grieve. Grandmother, may I leave now?" Tsunade looked at her for a second before her own lips curved an understanding smile. Unlike Kagari, Tsunade did not have too many relatives –and it was best to dismiss her granddaughter if she needed to attend to someone else. When the Hokage granted her permission, Kagari quickly gave a small bow before exiting the room.

What Asuran and Tsunade detected was that she left a tad too rushed. She was in safe grounds; she would have no means to fear.

The Godaime turned to the only other person in this room. "You think she is hiding something?"

"Definitely," replied Asuran speaking no false words.

"Do you know what she is hiding then?"

"I think I do."

"Mind telling me what it may be?"

"Sure thing, Tsunade-sama, I'll tell you everything. In truth… these Three Sound members that are on this screen… they are the same Three that we battled yesterday afternoon."

"Is that so?" she inquired wisely as she lifted her cup of coffee to take a sip. "What else do you know about them, Asuran?"

The Uchiha prodigy of Itachi was more than willing to elaborate. The Hokage just absorbed everything that was given to her within the next six minutes –it was not much of a stun when she displayed nothing delightful.

**_(Meanwhile, at the West Side of the Fire Country)_**

"Do you smell that, Hinata?" asked Naruto to his wife who was 2 meters behind him in flight.

"Smell what?" the Hyuga heiress asked back confusedly as she followed his lead to glide down lower. "I don't smell anything… what do you smell, Naruto?"

"Decay."

"I don't smell anything though…"

"Part of this forest is decaying," he told her with utmost vigilance. "Something is amiss…"

"What is causing it to decay? Are the forests being destroyed by dark energies?" Hinata questioned worriedly. With Shani missing, she was deeply paranoid by things despite whether it was big or small. Of course Naruto didn't neglect her disturbance. In fact, he could be even more concerned than her at this point. Having Shani gone was very unfortunate, but seeing his wife in such a fragile state was equally frustrating.

"The forests are contaminated or corrupted, Hinata-chan," said the Death Knight, "They are okay. However, what puzzles me is why only one section is decaying… especially with a dark chakra smearing all over it."

"Are you saying that a battle went through there?"

"More or less… I got a strong feeling that Shani was the one who was out here…"

That stunned Hinata to the core that words could not express. However, it was not the time to choke; she had to pull herself back together. "Shani-chan… how can that be? This is at least 20km away from Konoha… this is insane! Why would he come out here?"

"You got me…" That was not the most helpful answer that the Hyuga heiress was expecting. Moreover, she knew Naruto was not in the best mood to talk sweetly.

"I want a better answer than that, Naruto."

The Death Knight was forced to try again although he was suppressing his own concerns. "Judging from what Chaos said, Shani practically went nuts," Naruto stated as-a-matter-of-factly. Again, Hinata noticed that it was one of his usual cold, passive replies before she dated him long ago. "I seriously doubt that logic was running through his sharp head…"

"Do you think my news pressured him too much?" Hinata asked, feeling extremely guilty for last night, "Oh, I was such an idiot…" The Death Knight groaned to himself inwardly. Yhis was at least the hundredth time that Hinata blamed herself for this. And like all the other times, he kept telling her that it wasn't her fault.

"Hinata," Naruto told her, "It was nothing that you could've done about this… we had to tell Shani that anyway… and I am sure that Yamase would've spilled out the news regardless. If he didn't hear it from us… I am sure he would've been sad."

The Hyuga girl quickly argued. "But to sacrifice his sanity to achieve trust… which is more worth it?" Given such a question, both answers sounded pretty bad. If he chose one, Hinata would cry, and if he picked the other… Hinata would weep. Damn, why must it be so damn hard?

Coincidentally, something got him off the hook when his eyes detected something from a far distance. However, that meant trouble for his teal eyes never spoke lies to him.

"Worry about your question later, Hinata," said the demon hunter as he gained more speed in his flight, "You sense that?"

"Sense what?" she questioned as she achieved more agility by focusing more chakra, "I don't really…"

"South West from here… I can detect three massive chakra signatures…" That statement made Hinata's eyes narrow cautiously. "One of them is Temari… but who the hell are the other two? They are strong… very dark… Use your eyes, Hinata." By the time he told her the instructions, Hinata already had her Byakugan activated with her unique seal formed. From what he gathered from Hinata's expression, his wife was shocked to see what it was. "What is it, Hinata?"

"It's them…" she told him in a terrified whisper, "It's them…"

"Them? Who is this them that you speak of?" Hinata didn't make any sense to him. What in blazes was she talking about?

"Those two that Shani-chan and Kagari-chan fought with… but there is only two of them… I don't see the girl…" Naruto did not know whether if this was fortunate or not, but he had no intention to care right now when his eyes clearly told him that Temari and those two guys are bunched together at this moment. Most likely they were already engaging another in combat. His intelligence suddenly kicked in, why was Temari out in the middle of nowhere? Wasn't she supposed to be in the Sand? Nonetheless, she was obviously in danger.

"Who cares about that last bitch," commented Naruto rudely –which took Hinata off guard since he never used a rude comment so unpredictably, "Temari-san is in trouble… Hinata, what else did you see? Is Temari-san fighting?"

"Yes, the Sand army is there, too…"

"Then let's make haste."

Giving a nod, the duo forced their bodies to generate more chakra before soaring through the skies like lightning. If they knew the Sound's cunning style of game planning, they guaranteed that the Sand would not be able to maintain their ground for too long. If Konoha lost hundreds in two days, then these reinforcements without a good leader were a joke –not like Temari wasn't great though but it was more than likely that her troops would not be sufficient.

**_(Moments before)_**

"Temari-sama," said a Sand chunnin, walking away from the Sand army of 600 men to approach Temari, "How long do we have before we reach Konoha? We have been traveling for a several days already and still not one town in sight."

"This path is supposed to be the express route," explained the Kazekage, Temari, "In other words, the most direct route from Sand to Konoha. Anyway, we have been walking for 90 minutes already; I think this area should be a good place for us to rest up and have breakfast."

"Should I scout around for water or enemies?"

"Do we need to?" asked Temari, wondering if that was necessary. "We are in Fire Country territory after all."

"To the very least, I think we should look for water… like a river or lake or something."

"I suppose you're right, but come back in half an hour at most, okay? I don't want you to grow hungry."

The Sand Chunnin immediately bowed with respect, "I understand, Temari-sama. I will be back soon."

"I don't think you'll be going anywhere, fool." A voice came from nowhere before a spiked cannonball attached on a wire was launched out before striking the poor chunnin's head –hard. As of result, his head was knocked off the body, and obviously he was killed in an instant. Temari, along with the Sand army, gasped with terror.

"Who's there!" demanded the Kazekage angrily, "Show yourself!"

Instead of getting a response, she only heard one scream. "Destroy!" To the very least, Temari recognized that was the same voice, but she wanted to scream when a red plasma beam coated with a blue energy was fired from the forests before disintegrating three more of her men like shreds. Luckily, she leaped to the left quickly before the plasma shaved her liver area off. No doubt she was enraged.

"You missed her, baka," another voice was heard that was different from the first one.

"Whatever," the first mystery person said back casually, "Look, Jiroubo, it's exactly what Akira-sama said… there are so many of them…" This crap talk ticked Temari even more, and she was not somebody who would just stand still and listen to all this garbage. Her emotions dominated suddenly before she fully opened her fan fiercely.

"Bastards!" the Kazekage yelled harshly as she pulled her primary weapon back in a stance, "I don't care who you are, but this ends here! Ninpou Kamatachi!" Giving one intense swing, a massive chakra gust –which turned into a rushing tornado in a second- was blasted towards the forests. Temari smirked as the winds plowed through the trees devastatingly, but she didn't fail to notice two significant shadows escaped her winds by leaping out. They were faster than she imagined –much faster.

"Did you get them, Temari-sama?" asked another Sand member worriedly. When she shook her head while grimacing, that certain individual safely assumed the terror was not over yet. Barely anyone could fight head on against Temari's winds, and this must be very serious. "Above us!" he quickly alerted by pointing upward when he saw an arachnid-freak and a chubby adolescent in the air diving downwards.

Temari flinched. "Ninpou-"

"Not so fast, bitch!" announced Kidoumaru loudly as he gathered chakra into his mouth for a initial attack. "Eliminate!" Without warning he fired his mouth plasma right at her. Fortunately, she didn't waste any chakra just yet, and taking defensive measures Temari quickly took her fan before herself as she defended against this unknown attack. As far as she concerned, she never fought against such an attack, and once the beam struck her fan Temari felt herself being forcefully pushed back by the incredible force.

What in the heck was this?

This was unreal, and she believed that entirely when the metal rims of her fan were starting to melt. Even with a special coating Kidoumaru's beam destroyed it with just one blast. She had no choice but to demand her body to get out of this situation, and with one evasive shift she found an opening before slipping out of it. As for the plasma beam… it shaved a several trees out of their systems.

"You're good," commented Kidoumaru impudently, "You're definitely not a nobody."

"Damn you!" cursed Temari as she opened her fan and stood in a special stance, "Who the hell are you? Why are you attacking my men and comrades?" That question got Kidoumaru laughing, and of course this did not please the Kazekage a little bit. "What is so funny?"

The arachnid archer pointed to his forehead, "Why don't you take a look for yourself?" Temari's eyes simply widened afterwards. She truly did not believe this until her eyes sent the images into her mind.

"A Sound member! What the hell…"

"That's right, lady. Looks like you aren't that much of an idiot after all." He had quite a potty mouth; she would give him that much to the least. "Wherever you are going, I think I have to end your precious journey before you go on any further."

"Why would a bunch of Sound members give a fuck about where we are heading?" Temari questioned, giving a cold glare, "Don't you know how to mind your own business?"

"If you are associating with Konoha, then you are in our way. We can't have that worthless village getting stronger after all the efforts we have given to keep them this weak." To make it more intimidating, Kidoumaru chuckled darkly again before giving a cackle. "It was fun when you pathetic idiots weren't there to save them, and it's funny how you call yourselves allies. Where was the precious Sand when your friends needed you most? Oh right, they were crying… crying because I already pummeled them to the ground while they desperately wanted help."

Temari gritted her teeth with maximum rage, "Damn you… how dare you do that to Konoha!"

"Sorry, lady," he said with thick sarcasm covering his words, "Orders are orders. Besides, I had fun."

"You took so many lives… and now you are proudly boasting what you have done, bloody bastard!" she soon positioned her fan behind her to strike. "I won't forgive you!"

"I won't attack like that if I were you," the Sound sharpshooter suddenly told her before she swung, "If you care about your weapon that is." Of course, his words did not make any sense whatsoever to Temari.

"What?"

"Why don't you take a look at your fan?" Seeing there was no problem to steal a glimpse at her own weapon, she carefully trailed her eyes to look at it. Despite that the fan was still in tact, something was definitely missing. Being someone who knew this weapon all her life, Temari quickly believed something was wrong, yet, she didn't fully catch what it was. However, her wits took over when she no longer detected the shine in her black metal rims. At last she finally found out what was the matter. "You see it now?"

His smirk was making her blood boil.

The Kazekage did not find this to be amusing in any possible way. "You burned off my anti-chakra coating… how did you know? Damn it!" Kidoumaru was as confident as ever.

"I noticed the shines, and besides, your tornado attack certainly uses up a lot of chakra. A normal weapon would not be able to sustain that sort of energy -not even metal like titanium or whatnot. Also, you need your chakra to bounce off the weapon to form the gust, and which is why the coating was perfect to serve that purpose. I am sure you double your fan as a shield."

This was very bad. A stranger discovered her entire weapon information after one attack. Being a shinobi who learned that element of surprise was the most crucial in combat, she knew better than anyone to allow her personal strengths and weakness to be revealed so easily. She didn't know who to blame -his sharpness or her own carelessness.

"Damn you!" she shouted with rage plastering every feature she was displaying, "You know nothing!"

"Oh, don't I?" he countered back quickly, "If you unleash your tornado now the charka irregularities would completely overload the fan due to the fact that the anti-chakra coating was burned off by me. You wouldn't want that to happen now, would you, lady?" Temari winced when he reminded her about this, "At the same time, you can no longer use this as a shield for it won't survive another one of my blast. Speaking of which," He opened his mouth to reveal a spark from his opening, and Temari clearly recognized that was a beam.

"Oh, fuck…"

"Obliterate!"

Talk about her unfriendly surprises, one moment he was talking, and now he was attacking without giving any signs. He seriously had a talent to amaze people. Actually, that was what made him an elite in the first place. As the mouth plasma swept the ground clean, it left plenty of deep dents behind to show off its power and might. One hit of that and she would be a goner. At the same time, with her weapon at a useless state she was nearly defenseless. Of course, there was always the option of taijutsu but seeing how Kidoumaru had a spherical breaker, six arms, and a mouth plasma cannon, she was at a disadvantage.

Moreover, he had techniques that she may not even know.

Not knowing what was best, Temari had to fall back.

"Yukachi!" Temari yelled to a chunnin despite that she was disgusted at herself for saying this, "I need to fall back for a moment! Defend me for as long as you can!" She then leaped back to where their tents were although her subordinate was clearly panicking. The present situation was horrible, and now the Kazekage was retreating? This was an outrage! However, if Temari gave this order, it must be an emergency.

"That bitch is running away?" questioned Kidoumaru to himself with a smirk as he took out his bow. "Not on my watch." After mustering enough strength in his pull, the archer released his arrow at mach2 speed aiming to kill. There was no way she could escape this.

"Temari-sama!" shouted Yukachi in a dead panic as he leaped into the line of fire. As a result of his so-called bravery, his head was penetrated –which was not the most ideal reward for someone this courageous. Undoubtedly he was killed in an instant, and Kidoumaru cursed having his target get away momentarily. At the same time, more and more of the Sand were advancing towards his direction. How foolish of them to pointlessly waste themselves -did those idiotic fools finally figured out that he had been messing with their precious Kazekage while they tried to get their asses here?

If that Yukachi bastard did not interfere, he may have succeeded in eliminating her. It didn't matter now; these fools would serve ideally for a good appetizer before the real meal came.

As far as he was concerned, they were asking for their death sentences.

Lengthening the wire of the spherical breaker, Kidoumaru yelled threateningly before lashing his weapon out to the first batch of fools that wanted some of his wrath. "Take this! Terminate!" The cannon ball struck a Sand ninja before he turned into pieces by an explosion, and Kidoumaru swiftly tilted his head before discharging another plasma beam at a cluster of idiots. The onslaught practically disintegrated them into dust and a rain of blood; it greatly intrigued him as he took flight.

Kidoumaru was having a satisfyingly dark laugh. "I'm sorry…" said the archer, coming down and smashed one man's head with his breaker, "For being so strong!" A Sand member gasped when he saw Kidoumaru was actually flying, and he screamed as the Sound freak went past him –but not without an arrow jamming into his throat. At the same time, a storm of ninja explosive tags were thrown at his direction –from Kidoumaru's perspective it seemed to be a very effective covering fire.

The arachnid sharpshooter simply sneered.

Did they seriously expect to get him just like that? He wasn't a Sound elite for nothing. They carried this name although the doctors and the sannin treated him like trash. Not hesitating to react, Kidoumaru quickly whirled his spherical breaker repeatedly to make the wire into a thin invisible shield, and the outcome of those explosives tags were nothing but a bad memory when they ignited on the anti-chakra coated wire.

Long story short, it did absolutely nothing.

Forcing himself to counter attack, Kidoumaru practically whipped his left arm from his right to the left while dragging the spherical breaker with it to smash and crush. Noticing that deadly unpredictable strike, all the Sand chunnins leaped high to the air to evade, but one unfortunate victim was struck by the waist before the breaker rushed itself out from the other side.

"Die!" an angry voice came from behind. When Kidoumaru turned his head around, he found out there was actually a brave soul coming down from above with a kunai ready to stab his head. What a pity, the archer thought as he ruthlessly blasted a mouth plasma upward. All the Sand members nearby saw a magnificent display of fireworks at that moment, and what made their hearts sank was when their comrade was the reason of that explosion.

He wanted more, Kidoumaru just loved fireworks -and these pathetic weaklings were ever so perfect to become his source of entertainment. Kidoumaru lashed out his cannon ball again and it struck someone in the head as it knocked it off. The outcome was a headless body spewing blood like a waterfall. The next man was hit by three chakra generated arrows at the heart -his body ignited into pieces due to chakra irregularities. At last, a several bunched up ninjas were literally cracked to death when Kidoumaru unleashed his webs to form a capturing net. After catching a number of them, he twirled to the skies –obviously taking the captives with him- spinning and whirling before slamming them on their heads after giving all his additional thrust and power.

The victims' heads were all cracked open after that throw, and Kidoumaru found so much fun pulling off that sort of stunt. These men were even worse than those Konoha fools were! They were considering having these weaklings as reinforcements? Why bother looking for people who showed less promise? What, was it because they had numbers? Despite their numbers, Kidoumaru was confident that he could destroy any one of them who stood in his way.

"You insolent bastard!" a chunnin sneered as he unsheathed his katana before leveling it above his head, "Don't take the Sand this lightly!" Just as he slashed downward (it was already a miracle that the chunnin actually got close) his sword struck nothing but fresh air when Kidoumaru shifted his body to the right. At this point, there was a very clear opening for the archer to fight back.

Kidoumaru sneered confidently as one of his right arms reached for his back pouch, "Watch this," he told the man when he took out his own special kunai, "Sayonara!" However, the chunnin showed more resistance. Instead of standing there all shocked with fear, he struck back with a slash. Much to his surprise, Kidoumaru moved his spherical breaker in front of him as a shield. Therefore, the katana strike became defective. The arachnid sharpshooter was kind enough to allow the first opening to slide but he wasn't that lenient on the second one though. "Kill!" With one jam and rushing blow, Kidoumaru's arm came out (at the other end) of the man's body with his hand gripping on some internal organs.

No one recalled being able to survive while lacking their intestines –especially when they were perfect for a jump rope.

At the same time, another wave of ninja weapons was thrown right at him again. Didn't they know how to use jutsus? Correction, didn't they know when to quit? Generating more chakra into his mouth, he ruthlessly blasted his mouth plasma once more as the weapons were a yard away from striking him. One blast was all that was required to counter, and the beam continued to travel towards where the attack initially came from. No doubt, some of the opposing forces that were closer were wiped out in swiping cleanses; and those who were further back fortunately had more time to escape.

However, some of them had parts of their limbs burned off during the process. With their bodies in pain and partially out of commission, they resorted to crawling or hopeless retreating. Being an elite, Kidoumaru wouldn't allow this to happen around him. He quickly leaped high to the skies before pulling back his bow, and with one small release he launched three arrows at top speed while piercing off three morons' heads. As for the rest of them, he spun his spherical breaker wildly before lashing it out at one of the retreating idiot. As the condensed spike web ball hit his spine, the chunnin was crushed before turning into pieces before an explosion took place.

It was a great privilege to see another slow moron. This time around, Kidoumaru shot his arrow and struck through the weakling's chest before his entire body was pinned to the ground. He would've made a great decorative art if his body would not decay.

"These baka yaros are hardly worth the fight," said Kidoumaru watching more fools gathering around him despite they had seen him totaling their other friends easier than swatting flies, "Too slow…" Performing the same stance and movements, Kidoumaru gathered energy into his mouth, "Again!" Not hesitating for the hundredth time this morning, he swept the field clean before the Sand could start their counter assault.

Suddenly, he sensed two massive chakra signatures coming from the skies. Skies, attackers were coming in from the air? The only enemies that had flight ability were Shani, Kagari, and Asuran, who the hell were these two? If it were that Uchiha and Uzumaki girl, that would make sense. However, this source of chakra weren't identical. He needed some time to ponder, but that was not given to him when he sensed a crushing wave of abnormal jutsus was launched at him from the left -quickly.

**_(At that instant)_**

He once more lengthened the wire attached to his spherical breaker before whirling it in a circular motion to create a powerful reflective shield. All the chakra projectiles that touched the shield were deflected cleanly without leaving a mark whatsoever, but during that period of defending Kidoumaru picked up a dangerously dark chakra presence coming in from the rear.

Forcing himself to move, the arachnid archer immediately jolted before gliding to the left. He felt his forehead getting wet when he saw a dark forged blade stabbing at the spot he was less than a second ago, Kidoumaru had an idea of what might have happened to him if he didn't move. Moreover, he truly needed to speed up when the mysterious attacker rushed the weapon towards him again. What amazing cooldown that man had, thought Kidoumaru worriedly to himself, he had to put an end before he got himself into any more trouble.

"Teme!" the archer screamed despite he did not fully see who the attacker was, "Obliterate!" Not giving any sort of warning, Kidoumaru recklessly fired from his mouth as he unleashed a deadly beam. His eyes widened when the body turned into smoke.

It didn't take anyone intelligent to know the Replacement Technique.

"You bastard…" a voice came from above with a death-like sword above his head. What shocked Kidoumaru further was how this mysterious stranger also had devil wings and silver hair. "Perish." Giving no hesitation or reluctance of any kind, Naruto performed a cleansing swipe using one hand in the process of launching a pitch-dark swarm of deadly chakra. Oblivious to the Death Knight, Kidoumaru was smirking.

Using more chakra into his thrust, Kidoumaru zoomed backwards to evade while making the incoming onslaught a dead miss. In addition to his swiftness, he quickly pulled back before lashing out his spherical breaker aiming at the face. Naruto jerked back slightly as the web ball rushed by missing him by an inch, the Death Knight had to admit that this bastard was incredibly skilled. Seeing that the breaker was launched too far off and the wire was completely opened to any sort of attack, Naruto held his blade in an attacking fashion as he slashed the cable with burning energies.

However, he felt a reflecting force as he struck it, and by that time, Kidoumaru already retracted the weapon back into his hand before he blasted Naruto with his mouth cannon.

This spider malformation was dangerous, that was obvious. Naruto had never seen such a thing, if this was a Fire Element Technique he would understand why Kidoumaru could blast an attack of that sort. He didn't form seals, and yet he fired so quickly. His firing rate was better than the Rasengan or Chidori, and most importantly the charging rate was significantly lower. If Naruto was not careful now, that beam could easy drill through his arm before breaking it off his body.

"Crap…" cursed the Death Knight as he flew back just in time before the plasma hacked off his legs. It was most impressive indeed how Naruto reacted in these circumstances. Kidoumaru was amazed how his opponent actually managed to escape all of his attacks despite this was the first time they met another. Nonetheless, although he was strong it only meant he must try harder to take him down.

That was exactly what he was going to do.

"There!" shouted the Sound nin zealously while he charged up a considerable amount of chakra. "Kill!"

He fired at exactly where Naruto was after constant attempts to evade.

Having no choice whatsoever, the demon hunter immediately blocked it using the back of his sword. Once the beam struck his weapon, Naruto couldn't help but wince at the strength being put into the assault. If it wasn't for the runeblade, his arms would be burning. However, it didn't mean the rest of his body wasn't feeling the massive heat. Without actually knowing after he looked over to the side, he finally realized how badly Kidoumaru was pushing him back. To his shock, the beam suddenly fizzled into auras of chakra.

In all honesty, Naruto experienced a great deal of pain when a dense spiked ball smashed itself into his ribs. In addition, falling down disabled was no laughing matter.

"Ha!" taunted the Sound elite as he pulled back his secondary armament.

Naruto was not in a state of rejoicing. "Death Coil!" yelled the Death Knight as he swung and lashed out a green coil of death and decay. Kidoumaru immediately attempted to counter by firing his webs, but it proved him no good as the Death Coil continued to rush at him. In other words, his webs dissolved as it made contact. Not ever wanting to find out what the goddamn effects of the coil were, Kidoumaru tilted to the side as the Death Coil zoomed by like the winds –a wind that carried the sensations of dreaded death.

He shivered momentarily helplessly.

In less than an instant, Naruto charged back up at Kidoumaru –his eyes only displayed a will to kill. As if he would let Naruto get any closer. Stretching out his 3 right hands, the crossbow archer quickly glided back while giving off his own suppressing fire of web strings. The strings then moved into three different directions like a capturing net with no possibly to escape; one from above; one from the left; and lastly from the right. Naruto did not fully detect the capturing technique until he ventured too deep. The strings suddenly entangled him in an unbelievably tight bind, and the Death Knight never fully realized how these thin webs could provide such a crushing force. Despite how fragile these things might be, he couldn't break free if his hands were tied. He didn't have the time to just struggle, if he didn't move out of this spot now, he didn't know how much his body could take.

In truth, by the time he found out when it was too dangerous Naruto was certain that his life would be in jeopardy already. In simpler terms, he did not want to discover more about himself with his life on the line.

"I don't know who you are," Kidoumaru told Naruto from a fair distance while giving more strength in his binding, "But you are definitely interesting." Naruto grunted somewhat painfully as the tightness increased abruptly.

"Save it for someone who actually gives a damn about your fake sincerity…"

"My, oh my, aren't you rude," the archer replied casually, "You must be one of them."

"What the hell are you talking about, freak?"

"You are one of those demons in Konoha that Orochimaru-sama ordered us to capture or kill. I can't believe you look exactly like that kid but much weaker."

_Is he referring to Shani?_

"Is that so?" questioned Naruto, raising his voice uncaringly.

"'Tis so, demon," Kidoumaru assured, "Now, tell me, what do you prefer? Be killed or be captured? I feel kind today to give my enemies options." Naruto was more than willing to award his opposing enemy with a medallion for his sarcasm.

"As if I would let myself be captured. Do what you must, spider freak."

"Don't worry; I'll finish this off quickly."

Astonishingly, Naruto was laughing out loud despite his situation. Kidoumaru immediately stopped all chatting to charge his mouth cannon, but he wasn't that dumb to completely stop binding Naruto. In fact, he was increasing the strength. "Don't take me lightly." Immediately, Kidoumaru could read a deadly dark energy around the Death Knight. If his eyes weren't lying to him, the chakra was green, "Immolation!" In a mere instant, the web net melted away as Naruto activated one of his close range combat moves. What a magnificent display of power, his body was surrounded by a green sea of flames that could burn anyone around him, and the chakra appeared to be moving on its own like a real fire. Kidoumaru stared at it with awe –and a lot of anger.

* * *

"What on earth is happening over there?" questioned Jiroubo to himself rhetorically as his hands crushed a Sand chunnin's throat. Something felt uneasy, and there obviously were two incredibly powerful sources of chakra clashing. One of them was Kidoumaru, and the other one felt incredibly dark and demonic. It was similar to Chaos, but that was many years ago. However, this sort of unique power could not be forgotten that quickly –this didn't look good.

At the same time, he needed to worry about himself when he detected a presence from behind him. It was then he truly needed to be alert when his own senses picked up three negatively dark chakra beams were fired. Needless to say, Jiroubo instantly leaped out of the way before rolling a several times, yet he didn't fail to see what those beams were. His eyes widened with shock when he discovered it were Mana Burns. One of them was a Shadow Strike.

Who the heck was attacking?

"Why do I always get the ugly ones?" a voice was heard from above. Jiroubo of course noticed this was a woman, and her voice was so beautiful but spoke poison. When the squad leader heard this cold sound, he quickly looked up just to see an adult angel diving down with her palm filled with chakra. Taking his arm defensively, Jiroubo instantly blocked Hinata's 'slap' –but not without feeling a slight strange disturbance in his used arm. He desperately wanted to know what was that attack, yet he had no time to find out when he noticed Hinata's eyes –they were identical to a specific Death Knight's. More importantly, why was he pondering when Hinata was still striking him with the Gentle Fist?

Who was this bitch?

"I don't even know who the hell you are, bitch," yelled the chubby Sound elite, "Get out of my way!" Ducking forcefully to avoid Hinata's blows, Jiroubo knew he needed to react, and fast. Stretching out his palm angrily Jiroubo fired –but having the Hyuga heiress performing a back flip to evade. Much to his discomfort after the third strike, Hinata was as swift as ever. Her evasion was amazing; he would give her that much if she ever needed a compliment. The fourth time around, Hinata shattered it with one simple slap –this bitch was strong.

"If the Sound only has these nobodies," announced the Hyuga girl while smirking a dark grin, "Then I have nothing to worry about." After making that declarative statement, Hinata took a deadly sprint before plowing her hand into Jiroubo's chest. The Sound leader gasped at the initial blow given to him, bit even more so when a spin kick was delivered right to his face making him soar into the skies helplessly.

Despite his awkward situation, he managed to see Hinata form a set of unique hand seals, and he clearly did not want to find out although she was already finished it.

Hinata forwarded her hand with a black chakra surrounding her entire palm. "Gentle Fist: Hand of Divinity." Sounds like a beautiful name, but it was nothing close to beautiful when the beam was a crimson crippling bolt that appeared to be extremely devastating, as if it could cut through anything. Some divinity this was; all he wanted to do now was get out of the way! Luckily, the beam barely missed him but it struck plenty of trees in a line. Although they didn't collapse, Jiroubo was frightened when the trees had one concentrated hole in each of them. If that hit him… he would've been killed with no means to return.

"Bitch…"

"Hello." Her voice came from behind again, and it was already too late for him to react when Hinata jammed her palm into his back with a Jyuuken. Jiroubo coughed out blood in an instant, and he soon cried when the heiress mercilessly fired a streak of Mana Burns right at his chakra organ. At this point, all his energies were drained in a second before he started to fall helplessly to the ground.

Did Hinata believe that she won? Definitely not. This was all too easy, as if it was child's play –if she knew better, that was only a clone. She proved herself right when her face was struck from the side with a deadly punch. Although she prepared herself to take the blow to see how powerful her enemy truly was, her eyes widened at the strength he gave. It was massive, and Hinata could not help but to blame herself for taking him this lightly. She had no power whatsoever to stop herself from crashing down until her back slammed into a tree –along with a several corpses that had been killed moments before she arrived.

She seriously overlooked his strength; Hinata just knew something was wrong when her opponent didn't seem to be doing a thing. At the same time, if all Jiroubo had was strength, then she would merely keep her distance -advance conservatively, as she would prefer.

However, all her previous logic was lost when she saw a visible chakra ball forming in between her enemy's hands. She knew how dangerously concentrated it might be –especially when she witnessed Kakashi and Sasuke's Chidori plenty of times in her life. The Hyuga heiress had to be on her guard.

"Let's go!" the real Jiroubo shouted as he charged up for his own plasma, "Fire!" In an unexpected turn of events, the plasma he unleashed was much more deadly than Hinata first expected. Without pondering about other possibilities, Hinata jumped to the skies before the blue coated crimson plasma beam shaved the earth –along with a several innocent trees. Bad came to worse was when Jiroubo redirected his attack upward to chase the heiress down. Hinata immediately opened her angel wings and flew, yet the squad leader refused to allow her to escape. His attack nearly shaved her but it was then when she suddenly Blinked.

_Too close…_

Jiroubo was all too familiar was this sneaky move. Doing what was best, he commanded his body to move backwards –he only did that since he safely assumed Hinata would suddenly appear right before him, and more than likely to blast a several Mana Burns at his heart. At this crucial atmosphere, one careless move meant defeat. Just as he thought; Hinata did appear right in front of him. Fortunately, he was already at least 8 meters away, and that was an ideal distance to fire.

Once more, Hinata forced herself to shift away before any drastic damages were dealt to her. As the second one came in a chain, the Hyuga heiress swiftly glided downward before the beam missed her by an inch in a swiping manner. Although it was a close call, Jiroubo clearly figured out that Hinata had no trouble when she moved away defensively, and it was no surprise when the Hyuga girl rapidly returned the favour by firing back a Mana Burn –this time it struck him in the arm.

"Shit!" he cursed out loud as his chakra was burned away and jolted his system painfully. After numerous of times of getting hit from it, he was still not used to burning sensation.

Actually, who would enjoy having their stamina and spiritual strength to be used against them? What ticked Jiroubo further was the fact that she drained a significant amount –coincidentally, it was nothing to dangerous yet.

Key word: yet.

Hinata cleverly seized this chance to use it to her advantage. After gathering enough chakra at critical spots of her body, she soared in a raiding fashion (which Jiroubo could not detect) until she was in front of him with a kunai in her right hand. He didn't know what to do –even if he did evade now it would not do him any good. Firstly, he was not quick enough, and if he moved back the heiress would jab the weapon into his heart. Secondly, if he reacted irrationally, Hinata would obvious take the advantage and attack him during his confused state. Lastly, he could just blast her right now.

If he didn't react, he could be killed. If he did do something; both shinobis would suffer. The logic of "You win some and lose a lot" miraculously repeated itself in his head, and soon he smiled inwardly. Eternity was only milliseconds in reality, and it was not too difficult for Jiroubo to charge up a critical blast despite the lack of time. He was an elite; and elites in Sound were abnormal –miracle workers even (in combat)! Hinata did not notice his chakra until it was a tad bit too late.

"Bitch!" shouted Jiroubo frenziedly while he unleashed a half-powered discharge. Even if the detonation was premature, at this range it was more than enough to cause significant amount of damage. However, much to his disbelief, he saw Hinata having a glowing chakra shield in her left palm. Even in an awkward position she managed to pull off a defensive attack!

"Something wrong?" taunted the heiress as she gave a snicker.

One question continued to roam around in his head –who the hell was this bitch?

"Fan of Knives!" declared Hinata solemnly before she ordered her body to whirl rapidly as she formed a 360 degree barrier. She obviously smashed Jiroubo in the face before her powerful force forced him to falter in a farfetched way. Just when he thought the Fan of Knives was a protective jutsu, his eyes wanted to cry bloody murder when Hinata's barrier shot out beam blades like rain. He had no strength whatsoever to dodge any of this, and his tried his best to save himself from most of the agony with his hands serving as a minor barrier. Jiroubo truly prayed to Kami-sama that his arms did more, but all he did was scream as the blades seared through his flesh by cutting or piercing. The pain was excruciating, as if his muscle cells were exploding and being exterminated. As long as the chakra blades were still stuck into his flesh, the agonizing burn continued to linger. However, it was that moment he knew real pain when the dozens of knives ignited at once –causing him in engulf in smoke.

Needless to say, Jiroubo's chances of winning decreased dramatically. Not only was he Mana Burned, this Fan of Knives was equally devastating –although it didn't drain any chakra, it compensated that weakness by able to inflict massive damage. In both cases, it was dreadful.

"Shit…" Jiroubo grunted before his eyes flared up with hatred. "Don't underestimate me!" After that courageous statement, the chubby Sound nin pulled his arms back before blasting one destructive beam with full force. Hinata's lavender eyes opened with shock as the beam literally crushed her before she felt herself disintegrating. In a washing swarm, Hinata ignited –but not without the body turning into clouds of smoke and fog.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what just happened –but what Jiroubo was worried about was how Hinata formed a Bunshin without any seals. To be more specific, what sort of abnormal speed was it? His instincts told him the heiress was one cunning bitch, and in less than an instant the squad leader violently jammed his right elbow behind him. His winced noticeably when he felt someone caught it gracefully. So, Hinata was behind him, and caught him in a small hold. Jiroubo only tried again with his left, but again it was caught.

Now, Hinata had both his arms, and she started to press her foot on his spine –giving pressure as each moment passed on. All he knew was he needed to get out of this, and he had to do it with any means necessary. Next, Jiroubo smashed his skull on hers, and this time Hinata was not prepared. As a result of that dirty move, the Hyuga girl abruptly released her grip on him, and at the same time, Jiroubo grinned before generating a great deal of chakra into his hands.

"Damn you!" he cursed angrily, as if Hinata was his long arch enemy, "Fire!" At last, he unleashed it.

Much to his disbelief, Hinata regained her composure after the incredibly powerful counter he gave previously. With her Byakugan activated, she clearly knew his assault was considerably strong. Despite that she needed to evade, she couldn't use Blink –especially when Jiroubo could even redirect his blow to the ground where a number of Sand members were. Hinata wanted to curse for failing to notice that she dragged the battle back to an area where she didn't want to fight at -but it was too late to complain for obvious reasons. There was only one move that she knew that could save herself from this.

Hinata didn't waste any more time to prepare her jutsu. "Divination Kaiten!" she declared loudly when her body began to whirl 360 degrees around in a manner that was even quicker than the Fan of Knives. The beam made contact with the Kaiten a second later, and the mixtures of chakra was definitely intense. The Kaiten was actually standing even with the plasma; that defensive technique was actually destroying the beam into twos as it approaches. However, the only weakness to the Kaiten was how long the user could hold the rotating action. As far as anyone was concerned, the Kaiten required plenty of chakra to keep its effect. The next problem would be if the user could keep twirling continuously without faltering. With these weaknesses in check all Jiroubo had to do was keep up his blasting until Hinata's stamina or chakra diminishes.

Sadly enough, he forgot to calculate one issue -his own amount of chakra.

Hinata –being a versatile and extremely skilled shinobi- caught the fact her opponent's blast was weakening as time when by. Oblivious to Jiroubo, Hinata knew her own weaknesses more than he knew hers. It was true that she might not be able to keep up with the dizziness; it was also a given fact that the Kaiten uses up great amounts of chakra; but what amused Hinata was how he didn't know that she knew how to compensate it. She was utmost amused, and she fought hard to hold back a snicker. The answer was simple actually –don't overdo it.

Hinata had fooled around for long enough as it is; it was time to end it. She stopped her Kaiten immediately –but not without confidently discharging a Mana Burn back as a small token of appreciation. The negative bolt of energy divided the crimson plasma into two when the energies clashed, and Jiroubo was obviously not ready for this sort of interception. As Hinata first expected, her attack struck her target in the chest area. Of course, the negatively charged beam combusted a large portion of his chakra before his entire system felt a critical burn and energy drainage. After that attack, Jiroubo felt defenseless.

The Hyuga heiress' attack didn't simply end there.

She stretched her wings to the fullest before she charged right at him with her twin chakra generated short swords in hand.

"I got you!" Hinata shouted before she slashed upward with her right weapon. Jiroubo desired to yell in torment, yet that was cut short when Hinata swiped him at the chest with her left one. To finish it off the first part of chaos, she leveled her foot angrily before rushing brutally to his chin. A loud smacking sound was heard as Hinata wrapped herself with her angel wings, and twirled herself upward to keep up with her victim (A movement similar to Abyss Gundam). As soon as she was in the same altitude with the helpless Sound elite, Hinata opened her wings again before gathering chakra into her feathers.

"Shadow Strike!" During that profound declaration to kill, 20 feathers were fired (not all at once) like missiles from one wing after another. The Shadow Strikes not only plowed themselves through Jiroubo, it also gave him deep, slow, and poisonous venoms. To indirectly increase the damage during these initial blasts, Jiroubo was actually hitting a tree as each impact was given. The recoils from the tree were causing damage to his back, and of course the pain became more evident after each strike. When the Shadow Strikes were over, the Sound elite vomited plenty of blood –and his wounds were dripping a great deal of it as well.

He knew he was defeated.

At the same time –just when he believed her onslaught was done- Hinata cried with killing intent when she forcefully crushed her palm into a critical spot in a mad rush with her Gentle Fist engaged. The spot she attacked specifically was his heart.

* * *

"A shinobi doesn't fight to look classy!" Kidoumaru yelled in a roar before pulling back on his bow fiercely. "Die!" His aim was perfect but Naruto seemed to have vanished just as the arrows zoomed by. He knew this trick -that was what Shani frequently did when they fought before. Was this the Phase Shift or Blink? Where was Naruto, he looked around madly trying to detect his signature. He was nowhere to be found! Angrily –due to paranoid- Kidoumaru spun around, and to his dismay Naruto immediately jammed his knee into the arachnid nin's gut.

He went behind him like that without any sort of signs? Who the hell was this Death Knight? In addition, the Sound nin thought his body was burning –it must be those blasted green flames that was surrounding Naruto. At this point, he knew he shouldn't get close.

"Teme!" cried Kidoumaru as he glided backwards in a reckless rush and charging his bow with beam arrows, "Exterminate!" Naruto then pushed his runeblade forward before it acted as a shield favorably. Kidoumaru flinched seeing his attack deflected but the Death Knight was concerned as well. If his eyes didn't lie to him a moment before, Naruto was sure that Kidoumaru's aim was perfect for the three arrows struck his blade in a straight line. Naruto might have prevented himself from getting shot this time around, but he knew better than to place his fate with simply luck. At the same time, the spider freak gasped when his opponent charged at him with great speed.

Kidoumaru would not allow Naruto to get close.

Noticing that the Death Knight was increasing his agility within milliseconds, Kidoumaru whirled to gain more thrust before launching his spherical breaker in a whipping fashion. Naruto immediately tilted to avoid the smashing force, but to his surprise the Sound nin was smirking his trademark grin. When the Kyubi carrier noticed that facial expression he was already a second too late for his legs was wrapped by a web string.

_Crap._

Naruto didn't manage to gasp properly and he was already being swung, as if he was a stuffed animal that was created for the sole purpose of being thrashed. With the force Kidoumaru gave, he slammed the Death Knight into a several trees before forcefully making them timber. Needless to say, it wasn't the most pleasant experiences that Naruto dealt with in his 29 years of living, but it would take much more to make him declare forfeit. Before he could cut off the string, he was yanked back to the skies –that nearly ripped off the muscles near his crotch.

I can't allow him to do this for long…

Lacking all sorts of possibilities, Naruto directed his blade accurately –or he assumed to be- at Kidoumaru and blasted two series of lightning blasts –Chained and Forked. Kidoumaru was no idiot, and to avoid such beams all he needed to do was to whirl Naruto around wildly. Therefore, the Death Knight's attacks did nothing –perhaps it fried a several birds that were flying by ever so conveniently. Obviously Naruto was ticked off by this, and even more so when his spine smashed onto a thick tree branch.

"Ha! That demon with one eye was more of a challenge than you!" announced Kidoumaru as Naruto vomited due to blood clogging his throat, "Don't tell me you're getting old already." Without giving any warning, Kidoumaru then slammed Naruto to the ground headfirst hoping to crack his skull open like he did with all the others. He laughed when he saw Naruto flat on the ground, so helpless, so useless. Useless people shouldn't even be on the battlefield; they should be eliminated. He smirked cockily before his mouth flared a spark of energy. Whatever he was doing, it sure made Naruto's skin crawl. "Kill!"

The Death Knight knew that was a deathblow of his –he had to evade despite being upside down. Once a ferocious blast came forth, he immediately flipped right side up before leaping to the left to escape. Kidoumaru flinched at the swiftness that was displayed, however, he couldn't just leave the job half done –so he fired again and again. Naruto flinched as the plasma almost scraped off his left wing, and more so when Kidoumaru nearly shaved off his other one. Amongst all the chaos and affliction, Naruto did manage to notice one thing.

Kidoumaru was not a good close range fighter.

Unexpectedly, the winged demon descended down to the ground abruptly before Kidoumaru could protest. In all honesty, the archer did do something about it; he fired from his mouth. Unfortunately for the Sound elite, Naruto did get his way when his initial blast was destroyed in one simple gash by the blade. What was Naruto doing, why was he running towards the opposite direction? Despite the fact that Kidoumaru didn't fully know how Naruto fought, it was quite obvious that it was the Death Knight's style to escape cowardly. Was this a trap or was Naruto truly retreating. He didn't know, but all he knew was that he wouldn't allow this to happen as long as his body was drawing air.

"Eliminate!" the arachnid freak roared before lashing out the spherical breaker hopefully to hit Naruto's back. As expected, the Death Knight jumped up as the breaker zoomed by striking nothing but air. Kidoumaru grimaced immediately; if Naruto had the strength to evade like this, why the hell was he running away? If he wanted to run so badly, he would've been doing so right from the start! He seriously didn't give a fuck now, and if he wanted to play cowardly, then Kidoumaru would be glad to take his life. Naruto was definitely someone that would serve as a nuisance later on in the Konoha invasion, and demons had to be taken out for the betterment of the Sound.

Just when he believed Naruto had his back turned, the Death Knight suddenly disappeared. Where did he go? Kidoumaru couldn't detect his chakra or presence; this was bad –very bad. Although his vision was playing tricks on him, he assumed the Death Knight was nearby. If he wouldn't come out, Kidoumaru could always flush him out! He took in a deep breath without making any sort of noticeable movements while collecting a great amount of energy into his hands. He didn't want to use it so soon, but if he couldn't sense or see Naruto he could always trap him.

"Summoning…" hissed Kidoumaru to nobody in particular, "Techniq-"

"I don't think so," a voice came before him in a deadly cold whisper. That murmuring made Kidoumaru halt, but most importantly, it made his skin shiver. In addition, his eyes widened when he saw the Death Knight suddenly appearing without warning. All his gathered chakra was wasted due to the fact that he couldn't finish his jutsu, but that wasn't the time to curse about it when Naruto swiftly gave a clean upward sword slash using one hand. Kidoumaru felt his chest burn with an unexplainable sensation; it was similar to an iron making a print onto his skin. The only difference would be this chakra seemed to be corruptive and corrosive.

Maybe he should've been worried about his own defense because he was completely wide open.

It was time for Naruto to show off a trademark technique. Forming a set of designated seals, he prepared himself for combat. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." As the smoke cleared, Naruto made two duplicates of himself –each of them had one third of his original strength- and all this happened in less than one second. The Bunshins soared around the unprotected Kidoumaru (with Naruto below him) before blasting him with Mana Burns in a cross-firing fashion. With the Kage Bunshins surrounding him, there was no possible way for the archer to escape when the negative bolts were fired dually. It hit the crotch; the arms; the chest; the heart; the feet; his skull; and the only reason why Kidoumaru was still alive was due to the clones' power were only a fraction of the original Death Knight.

Nevertheless, the arachnid elite felt no chakra within him after 16 consecutive shots.

"Owari," said Naruto stoically as he pointed his runeblade above him. He narrowed his eyes to increase his aim despite his Kage Bunshins were doing a fine job at keeping his victim still. Naruto would make him understand the real fears of death. "Death Coil-"

Miraculously, something –or rather someone- interfered.

"What?" the Death Knight heard himself gasp slightly when he saw a thick white, spiky whip was launched out from nowhere as it struck one of the Kage Bunshins. With that one effective hit, the first clone vanished in a cloud of smoke, therefore weakening his advantageous assault. As for the second one, the unknown whip entangled it tightly in a bind. Naruto witnessed that his Bunshin was trying to retaliate, but soon the crushing force was too powerful for it to handle. The outcome of that scenario was a gruesome death.

Kidoumaru –during that abrupt confusion- fell defenselessly onto the ground front first before making an audible thump. After all those Mana Burns, he was glad that he was alive –somewhat. Although he was still surviving, he knew his chakra capacity was extremely low, and that was the sole reason why he was still flat, as if he adored Mother Earth. However, disgracefulness wasn't an important matter at the moment; he sure wanted to know who the hell saved him from Naruto's onslaught. Fortunately for him, Kidoumaru managed to visualize the intruding weapon.

White, long, and spiky… there was only one answer.

"Orochimaru-sama left you three to deal with the Sand alone expecting that you can do it… I am surprised that you are on the ground, Kidoumaru." The sharpshooter grimaced angrily at this voice where as Naruto felt his spine stiffening. Who was this cold bastard? Moreover, what sort of whip was this person using? "Weakling, I should've dealt with you sooner."

"Shut up!" roared Kidoumaru with rage before gripping his stomach due to the extreme pain. "Shit…"

"You are supposed to kill the demon, weakling, not get killed by him."

From the Death Knight's perspective, it looked like Kidoumaru was speaking a spiritual guardian.

"I know that, bastard!" Suddenly, a white blade was pointed at his throat. This blade user was not Naruto.

"You better watch your mouth when you talk to me, Kidoumaru," he told the spider look-alike as he poked his neck a little bit threateningly.

"Kimimaro… fuck you…"

"You should lie still if you know what is good for you."

Kidoumaru felt useless. "Shit…"

This confusion had to come to an end. "Who the hell are you?" questioned the Death Knight as he landed to the ground before pointing his blade carefully at the newcomer. What sickened Naruto was the fact this guy looked exactly like him in a way. White-silverish hair; he was tall; he had teal eyes; extremely stoic and passive; a blade-user; and this guy was unlike anyone he had fought before. Victory seemed to be slipping away when Naruto's eyes saw the intense amount of chakra Kimimaro had. Compared to this stoic freak, Kidoumaru was a joke. Although the Death Knight was more than certain that Kimimaro had skills to wield a sword, but just what the hell was that whip he saw earlier? He could drop the problem aside for the time being, yet his mind refused to be flexible. If he just find out a little more, Naruto could be able to have intelligence as his advantage.

Unfortunately, all he could remember was that the whip looked like a spine of a human being. That was impossible though, how could anyone use their own bones as a weapon? As a matter of fact, what kind of blade was Kimimaro using? The winged demon did not believe his eyes when he paid closer attention –his sword was actually a bone. To be precise, it appeared to be a wrist bone, yet his left arm was still functioning properly.

This really looked like one sick joke. Naruto commanded himself to approach this newcomer cautiously –one mistake would cost him everything.

"So," Kimimaro finally responded after a long period of silence. If the two were competing in a competition of being passive, Naruto just found a good challenger. At the same time, the Death Knight was disgusted at himself for losing his cool. Even if his exterior was showing nothing, he knew he was raging up inwardly. "Looks like you are one of those Death Knights that Orochimaru-sama warned me about. I expected to find two, but one would be just fine."

"You sound like you assume you could just get rid of me," replied the demon hunter as he gathered a bit of chakra to charge up his runeblade, "Don't get so ahead of yourself."

"I don't need to be."

"You are no ordinary shinobi, I know that. Who the hell are you?"

Kimimaro's face was just as unreadable as ever. However, the Death Knight knew why for he was trying to hide all sorts of weakness that could be beneficial to the opponent. "Kaguya Kimimaro," he stated in a cold, stoic voice before standing in his own preferred stance, "The last member of the Kaguya clan." This name shocked Naruto to the deep core. He finally had some knowledge of where he heard it from.

"Then I will wipe out the last one of your bastard clan," declared Naruto with his seriousness dominating everything else, "Your merciless slaughter on the Mist will never be forgiven -not even if you offer your life." The bone-user could not help but to smirk slightly.

"Looks like you've been doing your homework, Death Knight," said Kimimaro with sinister sarcasm, "You should feel honoured to be able to fight someone who is supposed to be extinct."

"Of course I am," Naruto told him with equal amount of insincere delight, "I wonder how pathetic you would look when you get killed. Look what you have done, you got me excited."

Kimimaro drew out his left hand before making a signal for Naruto to advance, "Come then, Death Knight."

**_AN: It has become official that I would be in Hong Kong in the beginning of July until the beginning of August. Therefore, not only would I be missing like a month of anime, more importantly I would not be able to update. I really do hope that I could make a new chapter at the end of June or something so I don't have to delay it any further than I should be. To the very least, I can go ANIME SHOPPING SPREE! Hong Kong is a natural gold mine! Anyway, I hope you all liked, appreciated, and enjoyed this chapter like you always have in the past. Thank you all so much, you guys. _**


	9. Overpowered

_**Downfall of the Light 3**_

_Chapter 9: Overpowered._

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Don't bitch at me or sue me because of it.

_**AN: I am not going to care about this story as much as I used to. I will write it from time to time, yes, but updates will be infrequent. Sorry to those who love this story, but this author certainly does not love it. Yeah, this story will end pretty soon, too. Perhaps a premature one, or one that's wildly unpredictable. Who knows, but not too many people care anyway.**_

_**Maybe there will be lemons, or maybe not. I don't know, and I really don't care. I'll see what sort of mood I am in. At the age I am in, perverted stuff runs around hourly for a good thirty minutes, and perhaps I would be able to write hentai or whatever if I have enough passion. Don't expect anything though, for I may not write it in the end. I think I said enough bullshit for one day, why don't you all be good audience members and read this chappie for my sake.**_

_**The more I practice, the more I realize that I suck at writing. I don't write good, nor do I have anything that you should be proud of. I am just someone who knows how to make BS look like art. They should really give awards to boring days, and I am sure I'll have a trophy case the size of Canada.**_

_**Without further nonsense, enjoy!**_

**_(Konoha Encampment at dawn) _**

"Let go of me, Chaos-chan!" a half-demon girl yelled as she fidgeted in a beautiful woman's hold, "As your keeper… I demand that you release me this instant!" Asuran shook his head with his head turned the other way to avoid Kagari's eyes; he knew this would happen eventually. It was only a matter of time before his sweetheart suggested the idea to look for her brother after her parents went out on their own. In the end, poor little Kagari was left at Konoha all alone not doing a thing to make a difference.

"And as your master," countered Chaos, struggling to keep her cute apprentice locked without getting her hurt. However, it was strikingly difficult when Kagari endlessly moved wildly. If Chaos ever loosened her grip just by the most insignificant bit, her little apprentice would surely take the chance to break free. "I am telling you to stay here."

"I can't just sit on my butt and not do a thing when oni-chan is still out there!" argued the female Paladin as she continued to retaliate. This time, she even tried smashing her head against her master's face but the grip merely increased to cause Kagari more pain. "Chaos-chan, you can't let me stay here for no reason!"

"What do you mean no reason? Hinata-sama and Naruto-sama told me to look after you specifically. I can't just let you do whatever you want to do and get yourself killed."

Kagari became furious at the justification she heard. Never had she been accused of being a kamikaze moron! "Getting myself killed? What are you talking about? When do I ever do something like that? Am I wrong for feeling the need to look for my only big brother? Shani-ni-chan might be in trouble, you know! Asuran, back me up here." She almost sounded like that she was pleading for support –in which she was, and desperately, too.

"Shani would be fine…" said Asuran, not having a lot of confidence in his voice, "Knowing him, I mean…"

"You are supposed to support me on these things!" the endearing long indigo haired girl shouted with disbelief.

Asuran nearly went deaf.

"Still," continued Uchiha Itachi's prodigy carefully, "Auntie Hinata and Uzumaki-san did tell you to stay here to keep yourself safe. Moreover, my father and mother told me to remain with you…Inside this encampment, I mean." His words made Kagari pout with her cheeks puffed up. Chaos gave a small sigh of relief as the young Uzumaki-hime actually stopped moving, and furthermore, there was no intent to retaliate any longer. "We don't have to look for Shani, and you won't be bored if I stay here."

"But…"

Chaos, Kagari, and Asuran immediately stopped when their mind sensed a massive aura of chakra coming their way. Although it was not anything hostile, it was shocking each time when they sense it. "What's going on here?" the newcomer asked as she approached the three. Coming along with her were Hyuuga Yamase and Uchiha Umi –who weren't talking or taking glimpses of another. Better yet, they were as silent as cockroaches, but they surely had an unquestionably irritated look of disgust. Somehow, their behaviour worried Asuran.

"Nothing… Tsunade-sama…" lied the Uchiha, scratching the back of his head with a forced smile. The Godaime was not stupid, since Asuran never acted this pathetically. In some cases, it was considered a total desperation to pretend that he had innocence.

"Why is Kagari-chan held by Chaos?" Tsunade inquired, a single brow raised up a bit while the other one remained unchanged. There was obvious doubt in her voice. Asuran did another 'innocent' chuckle, as if nothing was happening before he broke the act with a sigh. Kagari, because of Tsunade's reminder about the fact that she was still binded by Chaos, fidgeted by jumping up and down and side by side. This time around, Chaos couldn't take it much more, and it wasn't long when Kagari finally broke free by jamming her elbow in her demon master's stomach.

"Yes!" cheered the Uzumaki-hime with delight, "Kagari is free!" Asuran grunted in his hands; Yamase giggled at her cousin's exuberance; and Umi placed a hand on her left hip along with a sweatdrop. If her ears heard right, Kagari just referred herself in 3rd person. Those who actually did that were usually people with class, or noble. Umi was certain that Kagari was neither of those.

"Free from what?" the Godaime asked with curiosity, in which she had a good cause.

"Free from Chaos, grandmother," replied Kagari.

"I know that," the Hokage said back, eyebrow twitching slightly because Kagari just explained the obvious ever so casually, "But why was Chaos holding you."

Once the Paladin heard that inquiry, her face turned menacing. There was this smile of hers at that instant that Asuran didn't like. Kagari showed all her perfectly white teeth in a wide grin before answering, "Because Chaos-chan was being a bit-" The female demon's face cringed as her mind almost erupting from Kagari's comment.

"Why are you calling Chaos a bitch?" Tsunade immediately cut her granddaughter. "How could you say something that rude? I don't recall Hinata-chan ever teaching you such words! Your father wouldn't… well… I don't know about your father, but I know he wouldn't like you talking to your master like that. He doesn't talk like that to Auntie Kyuubi, either."

Naruto used almost every vulgar language in the Webster's Dictionary, if Tsunade recalled. Perhaps she should have presented him with the Honourary Jackass of the Decade Award when the war ends.

"I don't just call people bitches and bastards for no reason, grandmother!" protested Kagari, as she took Asuran's arm to have his warmth. He was now her confidence/good luck charm ever since they shared a moment during one of the nights. "Oni-chan is still out there, how can I still be here chilling around as if nothing is wrong?"

"And if I remember," Tsunade countered considerately, "Naruto and Hinata wanted you to stay here because having one of their children out there in this wartime chaos is hectic enough already. Hinata, I mean, your okaa-san will kill herself if she finds out her second child is also out there."

"Well, they shouldn't be angry if my intention of looking for Shani-oni-chan is pure! I am not going out there for the fun of it, you know! If oni-chan is dead… well, I will blame whoever was the hindrance!" It was rare to see Kagari with a great deal of hatred, but like Shani, she hated any unnecessary and pointless troubles or those who got in her way. These two twins rubbed off a lot on another more than they expected, and Tsunade was very curious as to know how deep their love really was.

From the looks of things, they weren't typical siblings.

"Kagari-chan…" Yamase whispered, speaking for the first time, "It's too dangerous out there though…"

"If you don't have the courage to go," Umi spoke, nearly taking the spotlight, "Then I will go look for Shani along with Kagari." The little Hyuuga girl had a hidden death glare behind her long hair at Umi after receiving that comment. Ever since they spilled their hearts to Shani, Umi had been such a bitch to her. Then again, it wasn't like Yamase didn't go on the defensive. In fact, the Hyuga girl was pretty bitchy herself, but just in a nicer manner.

"You aren't going anywhere, Umi," said Asuran, with a serious face that he occasionally used when the time was right.

"And why not, Asuran?" the Uchiha girl questioned. It was more of challenging for superiority, "You went out last time, and Kagari and Shani fought plenty of times! What's more is that you guys lived."

"Kagari and Shani lived because of their demonic powers," justified the Itachi prodigy, "You won't survive for a minute against those Enhanced bastards…"

"But you went though!"

"Because Kagari and Shani were covering my ass back then… and now Shani is gone… we can't do anything reckless…"

"But that gives more of a reason for us to get Shani back!" Umi fought on, and Yamase's face appeared to be agreeing with her rival this time. Tsunade and Chaos knew the little Hyuga girl was fairly anxious to see her loved one again as well, but of course she was holding it in better than Umi.

"It wouldn't help if you get yourself killed out there," Asuran said, hopelessly.

"Shani is your best friend, Asuran!"

"Why don't you try to help him instead of leaving him out there?" This time it was Yamase who was yelling, and Kagari took a step back at her cousin's rash behaviour. It wasn't like her to just scream so randomly. "What if he dies? Can you live with that?" Chaos looked sympathetic at the cornered Uchiha Asuran, and despite how much she wanted to support him, the female demon knew the young ladies in the room would go against her. At a minimum, she would have Umi and Yamase completely agitated, and the last thing that Chaos wanted was more… chaos. How ironic that was, as the young female demon would say.

The little Uzumaki girl took this opportunity and claimed it as an advantage. With Chaos temporarily distracted due to her cousin's entrance, Kagari instantly made a cunning leap move as she left her demon master stunned. However, the midnight-green haired demon gasped once she saw Kagari charging up her fists with energy. "Ten-Ryu-Ha!" she declared, which literally translated into Sky-Dragon-Bolt (or wind or whatever you wanted to call it) and shot at whoever had the best agility. Ironically, that was her demon master. The initial bolt shocked Chaos badly, but it didn't wound her much. In reality, Kagari just used less chakra, yet the desired effect of paralysis worked like a charm.

"Kagari… why…" gasped Chaos as she fell, and the rest rushed to her aid.

"So you can't catch me!" the Paladin girl yelled back, stretching out her angel wings that had thousands of divinely white feathers, "I'm going to save oni-chan no matter what you say." With that, she turned around before taking off to the nearest exit at full speed. Tsunade, Yamase, and Umi had no ability to fly, and therefore no one could match up with the speed she was able to muster. Chaos was practically out of commission, obviously, and the last person available was the Uchiha prodigy, and who was grunting with endless frustration.

"Asuran…" Tsunade said, "Please… follow her…"

"Bring Kagari back safely, Asuran-kun…" Chaos moaned weakly, and it wasn't long before she fell asleep from her paralysis sickness. Seeing that he had no options to choose from, since it was either abandon Kagari and let her die, or go with her and increase her chance of surviving, Asuran would do anything to preserve her from death. He loved her too much just to lose her now. And without another word, the Uchiha Itachi prodigy generated his own spiritual energy in the most unique fashion as he gained the strength to fly.

Needless to say, he flew out –fast.

_**(At the moment with Naruto and Kimimaro)**_

"Kuso…" cursed Naruto as he took on step back with his blade tight in his right hand, "Who the hell are you…"

He didn't like this newcomer –not like he was supposed to- but he just couldn't shake off this strange feeling. Not only was Kimimaro facial expression too similar to Naruto's, the Death Knight certainly found his entrance rather terrifying. Naruto was too proud to admit it out loud, but that 'thing' which Kimimaro used to wipe out his Kage Bunshins from his 'Chaos Rendan' shocked him. From the angle Naruto was at, he first thought it was a white spiked amphibian with tremendous strength. Once he took the time to think about it, he never recalled any animal with that sort of strength and power.

The next assumption he had was to accuse it as a demon. Then again, his eyes detected no demonic aura. This mysterious man intrigued Naruto, yet it gave him a good reason to watch his back.

"I already told you," Kimimaro said with a voice dripping with neutrality, "I am Kimimaro."

"Not that…" hissed the Death Knight as he lowered his eyes slightly to express his agitation. Just when he tried to speak again, Kidoumaru groaned as he stood back up from his previous exhaustion along with a hateful glare. Even if he got back up on his feet, Naruto didn't need to care about him. His eyes never lied; and what he witnessed with those teal eyes were low chakra levels flowing around the enemy body. With that fact in tact, Naruto had no means to be afraid.

"Kuso…" whimpered the Sound arachnid nin with a small flinch near his mouth, "Kimimaro… you kono-yaro… trying to take all the glory?"

The bone-user merely took a small glimpse at the shorter person next to him. "What is there to take?"

"Don't try to act dumb with me! You can clearly see that I was about to finish him off!" Kidoumaru suddenly coughed hoarsely, and what made Naruto growled was the spider freak vomited with some blood. Kimimaro's face remained unchanged, but the Death Knight's high awareness noticed his mouth formed a nearly undetectable smirk. What arrogance, as Naruto would say.

"I will give you credit for being so… persistent," commented the Sound newcomer, raising his hand a little while making a small seal.

Without any warning in advance, Kimimaro jammed his palm right into Kidoumaru's stomach in a finishing blow fashion. No doubt the spider abomination screamed in terror when he was it, and more so when he literally glided on air before his back struck a tree. The initial force was sufficient to knock the poor tree down, and what disgusted the Death Knight was how Kidoumaru was still injured. Clearly, the demon hunter had no love for any Sound members, yet using such brutality on a powerless person was immoral. Naruto couldn't form words at the sight he just observed, and at the same time that incident gave him a better reason to take Kimimaro down.

"What was that for!" shouted Naruto, pointing Nightshadow at his standing enemy cautiously and angrily while demanding answers. "Can't you see he's already down?" To increase his rage, Kimimaro easily grinned darkly. It wasn't a big one though, but it was honestly there.

"Those are strange words for a demon," replied Kimimaro, still smirking a confident and casual smirk, "Aren't you supposed to lust for blood like the killing machines you people are? I thought I was doing you a favour."

"Shut up!" Naruto scolded with fury, "Don't pretend that you know everything when you know nothing about me! You arrogant bastard…"

"I should be throwing those words right back at you. What do you know about what I just did?"

"What?"

Kimimaro eyed the direction towards where Kidoumaru was. "See for yourself." He didn't want to believe his eyes, yet he knew his eyes never lied. Kidoumaru was actually standing up; the difference from the last time was that he actually had the proper strength to do it. The Unholy Sight once again scanned through Kidoumaru's body, and Naruto wanted to curse out loud when he found out he was fine as ever; if not better than before.

"How…"

"I can never get used to the way you heal people…" Kidoumaru grumbled with his hand over his stomach, "To the very least you got my body back together… Thanks." Naruto watched carefully when the archer stretched his arms, and judging the easiness of it Naruto could tell Kidoumaru was telling the truth. It was very unbelievable indeed, and this didn't get him too delighted.

"Whatever," said the bone user uncaringly, "I can deal with this Death Knight, why don't you go help Jiroubo with that flying witch?" Somehow, Naruto became quite disturbed at that comment. How dare he called his beautiful wife a witch! No one ever called her that –perhaps maybe his son did once. That wasn't the point, Naruto just hated it when people insulted Hinata.

"I am sure Jiroubo could handle it," said Kidoumaru in a strong voice, "Besides, I want to take my revenge on this demon." If this becomes a 2 on 1 battle, Naruto's chances of survival would be cut drastically. He didn't like where this was going, but what could he do about it? Unfortunately, there was nothing.

"Jiroubo could use your help more than I do," explained Kimimaro, who was not actually looking at Kidoumaru and more or less spoke. Instead, he was eyeing the Death Knight the entire time, since he was confident that Naruto was much more complicated than he looked. "Having you as my partner is more of a nuisance."

No one among the three dared to challenge Kimimaro's words once they left his mouth, just like how Tayuya was when they did their missions. The only slight difference between these two people was that reason could get to the Sound girl's head where as Kimimaro preferred dictatorship of a pure absolutist. Seeing how the order was past down to him, Kidoumaru, despite he practically hated it, grunted to himself before taking flight towards the direction Jiroubo was fighting at. Deep down he was pissed off but in front of his sempais he just had to wise up.

However, Naruto was not that kind to let someone leave his sight that simply. Whoever challenged him in a real fight must end up in defeat. That was his ninja way, and he loved sticking to it.

"You wish!" shouted the Death Knight as he charged up his sword using tremendously dark energy before performing a dangerous slash upward, "Chain Lightning!"

Naruto smirked when Kidoumaru didn't even react; that spider freak was more of an idiot than he expected. The beam was just inches away from striking the target the demon hunter gasped inwardly once the same spiked white thing intercepted the lightning strike. Not only was the beam completely deflected, the power of this unknown weapon smashed Naruto's attack into useless chakra waves. He couldn't believe it, but his eyes never lied. It was shocking to see this sort of display, for it truly was fascinating yet dangerous. However, the Death Knight finally figured out what sort of marvelous individual Kimimaro was when he spotted the weapon he used.

This time, it was good enough to make him flinch. "A bone?" Naruto fought hard to keep his face straight. He couldn't afford himself to show off any surprise, but this guy was too much. In his 29 years of being alive, he never seen such a magnificent sight. No, it was more of a jeopardous opportunity. At first, all he wanted to do was to save Temari's troops, and these Sound nuisances weren't much of help. First it was Kidoumaru, and now it was this monstrosity. Naruto was surprised that this guy was actually human because calling him a hybrid or a freak was justified.

_A freak that used bones… what a feast of opportunity…_

"You look surprised, Death Knight," said Kimimaro as he attracted back his spine whip to his left hand, "What, haven't seen a spine before? I am sure you have killed many others in your lifetime, it shouldn't be a shock to you. Don't tell me you have a fear of internal organs now." It didn't take a wise person to understand Kimimaro's tactics –especially when Naruto was a master at psychology. To be more accurate, Naruto was just excellent at penetrating other's weakness where as Shani took others' life for being a fool to reveal their deepest vulnerability.

Like father, like son.

"Don't take me for a fool," Naruto told him, eyes cringed with his pupils turning into a sharp teal colour, "Why don't you tell me what you did earlier to heal that friend of yours? From my perspective, it certainly looked like you were striking him instead."

Miraculously, Kimimaro actually found some humour in those words. For the first time today, Kimimaro was actually laughing. Goosebumps built up soon when Naruto sensed the drenched evilness in that laugh, and if that guy was this dark while being optimistic, what did he look like once the situation needed him to be serious? The Death Knight simply couldn't imagine that instance in his head without shivering.

"You really are an idiot," Kimimaro said back, smashing his palm on his forehead, "Haven't you heard of chakra stimulation? Looks like demons are nothing more but simple barbarians who don't know anything but brute force."

"I can't believe you would actually go that far as to use chakra stimulation on your comrades," Naruto countered the insults calmly, "Don't you know that it's only used on emergencies? That's basic! Pushing someone using that method is pushing them to the limit… how could you force their chakra to flow faster like that so they could regain their strength quicker? How can you be so heartless?"

"They are used to it. Don't worry about them that much, Death Knight, you should be worried about yourself. Do you have any idea of what is going to happen to you?" It was then when Kimimaro finally held his bone sword in his preferred stance, Naruto was wondering if they would ever get this over with. At the same time, the Death Knight wasn't looking forward to this battle –especially with such a rare opponent. What was wrong with him? Was this Hinata's doing? Being married to such a sweetheart truly made him soft, and as ridiculous as it sounds, Hinata was such a loving woman to him that it was good enough to destroy his character.

When did become such a desperate person to get the will to fight? It was pathetic!

Naruto's thoughts were immediately interrupted as the long spiked whip extended to a great length before it was launched at a ramming speed aiming for his face. The first reaction for the Death Knight was obviously to defend by striking it away with Nightshadow. However, the clash between the two weapons was more than sufficient for Naruto to realize the extreme density of the bone. Naruto never assumed things on the mark without some evident proof, but having the Chain Lightning broken by that satisfied his thesis.

Forcing himself to evade the whip that was coming from behind in a twist, Naruto immediately leaped to the skies as he powered Nightshadow to counter. "Death Coil!" the demon hunter declared as he lashed out a coil of death from his death-like runeblade. It was a close call, but unleashing his attack somehow gave him a moment to thrust out of the whip's attack path. Naruto knew it was nothing but luck this time around, since skill would determine the final outcome of this fight in the end. As for the Death Coil earlier, Kimimaro easily broke it into two using the sword on his right hand. Twisting his left hand just a little bit, the spiked whip made a sharp turn before launching itself at Naruto, as if it was trying its hardest to drill through the demonic Death Knight.

"You won't escape…" hissed Kimimaro, almost wanting to laugh at his prey. His eyes showed excitement as the tip of his whip came crashing downward from above. It was such a shame to see Naruto swiftly spun away as a form of evasion, but Kimimaro was surely confident at getting him eventually.

"You got to do better," commented Naruto as he once again slashed the annoying whip away to create an opening. With the given strength Naruto put in on his previous slash, there was indeed a clear spot for him to strike back. "Die!" To Kimimaro's surprise, the Death Knight didn't use his blade to unleash his onslaught. Instead, his left hand engulfed a venomous blue before a bolt of negative energy was blasted in a linear straight line. This was more known as "Mana Burn".

"Baka!" Merely seconds before the Mana Burn reached Kimimaro's heart, the Sound ninja disappeared as if he knew how to teleport. With the Unholy Sight activated, Naruto instantly leered up to catch up with the energy signature. Although the Death Knight could find his target, it puzzled him as to why Kimimaro appeared to be unarmed as he came downwards in a frenzied dive. Was this person/freak unpredictable or what! He was truly something.

Naruto didn't want to find out what Kimimaro was trying to accomplish; all he knew was that he had to stop him before anything drastic came from this confusion.

"Death-" He didn't manage to launch it unfortunately, since Kimimaro seemed to have fired something from… his fingertips. Using all the agility his body forcefully mustered within that second, Naruto took a leap backward in order to escape but not leaving his shoulder getting hit once. "Shit…" cursed the Death Knight as a pained grunt came from his lips.

_What the hell was that…_

It truly disgusted Naruto to see Kimimaro landing safely with a smirk that ceased to be wiped off from his face, and it was merely a millisecond later that he pointed his fingers at Naruto, as if his hand was a gun. "Perish…" Once more, his fingers blasted a series of five bones directly at the retreating Death Knight. With the best intentions to save himself, Naruto pushed his sword forward as the bullets make shattering sounds on contact. Having such power hitting him, it was difficult not for Naruto to be pushed a several feet back; but that was insignificant when he realized those bullets were also bones.

_He shot his fingertips? What in the hell…_

"Fire…" announced the Sound nin as he continued to attack over and over with his bone bullets. The Death Knight sure looked helpless under that suppressing fire, and more so when he had a hard time defending underneath this deadly shower. It obviously gave Kimimaro a reason to keep on firing. "You're pathetic, Death Knight. Is this too much for you already?"

"You take your opponents too lightly," stated Naruto, a glint appearing in his eye as he spoke. Suddenly his chakra energies rose drastically, and therefore, the Death Knight was able to slash all the bullets using one brutal swipe. Kimimaro was quite shocked, yet impressed, at the extreme improvements. Was Naruto hiding his true colours until now? He sure had his own deadly surprises; Kimimaro was willing to acknowledge Naruto to have such talents at being such a cunning bastard. Moreover, he detected Naruto's stance had changed into a 'firing' position within less than a second; how was he so fast in such a snap?

"Crap…" grunted Kimimaro, nearly blaming himself for failing to catch his enemy's new motives until it was too late. He had no other choice but to react or this demon would take his life.

"Mana Burn!" The timing was perfect: no delays, and definitely no hesitation. Overall a perfect coordinated blast altogether, yet the bone user had enough skill to shift his body before the beam struck his heart. It made Kimimaro sweat a few drops at the accuracy in that blast. He had heard from Orochimaru that Death Knights had the abilities to burn off chakra, and he was quite certain that the last attack had to be it. He also remembered the effects well, and judging from what Orochimaru carefully elaborated, the Mana Burn was something that had the potential to turn the entire duel over.

Surely enough, Kimimaro needed to love himself just a little bit more.

After another Mana Burn was fired, Kimimaro had no way not to commence flight. He promptly used the correct amount of energy, he ejected to the skies. Naruto followed suit by merely opening his long devil wings; he had an unquestionably easier time when no chakra was needed to soar up to the air. Pointing his runeblade diagonally upward, Naruto smirked darkly as another negatively charged bolt fired from his sword. Although Kimimaro evaded it again, he was starting to understand how dangerous of the Mana Burn due to the quick firing rate.

However, somehow he believed that quick firing rate was only one of the many surprises.

"You're good…" hissed Kimimaro in a way that hurt his pride a little, "But it won't be enough!" Again, he pointed his left hand fingers at the incoming Naruto. "Die!" More of his fingertips launched out dense bones at that instant, but it was clearly not enough to stop the Death Knight from charging –of course not without smashing the bullets into pieces in two slices. With this demon still increasing his speed, the bone user had to think of something –and fast!

He realized it was too late when Naruto appeared two feet in front of him without warning. His runeblade was already in a position to stab, meaning the Death Knight had his right arm back before this sudden warp. Erasing all humane thoughts in his head –knowing that they would only be a nuisance in this battle- Naruto emitted an angry roar as he rushed the sharp end of Nightshadow at his opposing force. Needless to say, this was intended to take out Kimimaro's life; yet the bone user (in Naruto's disbelief) summoned just the right amount of chakra to add on in his flight to dodge.

These bastards had no limits to their astonishment.

"Not good enough…" Kimimaro spoke stoically as he took out his bone sword, "I have to say you are one unexpected person to be fighting equally against me, but your little surprises obviously has no effect on me." During this minor distraction, Kimimaro (with his face still fairly passive) slashed from the right without making any sort of noticeable intent. His eyes narrowed once the Death Knight shifted perfectly backward as a form to evade; it was almost like Naruto had a clear idea of how he strikes. "Even if you had your agility, you haven't been able to do a single thing."

Naruto had no counter against those words. He really had not done anything to do a speck of damage.

The bone whip soon extracted from his spine, and automatically equipped itself into Kimimaro's left palm as if it was alive. As far as the demon hunter's knowledge went, inanimate objects had no will to live. Then again, this could be one of the special effects of a bloodline ability. Naruto was no idiot when it came to combat (unfortunately a moron who always fell for affectionate intimacy) since dangerous bloodlines was always the reason why the impossible became possible.

Not saying another word, Kimimaro (ironically) whipped his whip wildly to smash Naruto apart.

In a natural reaction, the Death Knight swiftly shifted Nightshadow defensively to the right in order to shield himself from any damage. Expecting the worst was one of Naruto's strong beliefs in a fight, since ninjas were always taught to be careful –and more or less anticipate obstacles seriously and take caution in everything. As the lengthy weapon crushed against the blade, Naruto quickly pushed it away by using Nightshadow as a barrier before he rushed at Kimimaro completely unwounded.

This demon just refused to give up… and it truly began to tick Kimimaro over the top of his bent. Persistent wretch, he would make Naruto crash and burn endlessly. That should destroy not only his confidence, but his hard efforts would be for nothing. Yes, Kimimaro would do that, since Orochimaru would be real pleased to know such results. Whatever Orochimaru wanted in this life Kimimaro would do his best to deliver it. Even if his life was on the line and prepared to be used pointlessly.

"What?" Kimimaro asked to no one in particular when the Death Knight disappeared once more in a teleporting fashion. There was no trace of him whatsoever, where could he have gone? Instincts kicked in immediately like a charm; and moving the best he could, Kimimaro twisted himself around. Fortunately for him, Naruto was behind him in a 180-degree angle, and was the bone user ever glad to have faced the right way. If he didn't, he wouldn't have had the time to block the onslaught that was intended to strike his head.

At this moment, the duo seemed to be in a stalemate with the both their swords clashing. Needless to say, they were trying to tower over the other person in brute strength.

"You aren't good enough," said Naruto, grinning a cunning smile, "You think you can beat me in strength?"

Kimimaro was unaffected by those taunts –or perhaps facts. "You want to compete with me on brute force?" the Sound shinobi questioned inactively as if he was half-dead, "You don't know what strength is…"

"What?"

"You call that strength?" Kimimaro inquired one more time. Suddenly, his eyes were completely wide and wild, as if he was breaking his quiet persona. "This is strength!" The next thing Naruto could remember was Kimimaro pushing him down towards the ground with brutality alone. He tried to fight back, but it didn't seem to be effective. Part of it was due to the annoying gravity, yet Kimimaro's chakra flow also increased by a notch. This wasn't good at all. Everything was a blur after that, but Naruto obviously knew at what point his back and skull crashed onto the ground with Kimimaro's right foot giving a heavy stomp.

"Damn…"

"Fool…" Kimimaro never had a liking to give opponents time to rest up –not even for a second. With that philosophy stuck in his stubborn head, he immediately drew back his left foot and then literally kicked the Death Knight to send him gliding off before he collided into a rock. Naruto coughed hard after that, and his eyes didn't make lies when he saw Kimimaro dashing for him with a bone-sword in his hand. "Shi-ne-nassai! (Die)"

As if Naruto would declare forfeit –especially not to this freak! He instantly moved the chakra to his as he made a small shift to the right. Kimimaro roared angrily as he attacked nothing but an immobile rock, smashing it to pieces in the process, of course, but nevertheless, he knew that demon couldn't dodge forever. Holding out his left hand, Kimimaro drew it back as he unleashed his spine whip to hit Naruto.

After dealing with this demon for over 10 minutes, Kimimaro obviously knew his opponent's battle plan. Firstly, Naruto would counter or defend. If he chose to defend, then Naruto would come rushing in with great speed. If the choice were to counter, then the Death Knight would forcefully make Kimimaro have an opening before striking back. And if the art of disappearing were the case, Kimimaro would turn around 180 degrees to intercept. This demon had predictable tactics for someone known to be sneaky. It was a shame to see a good fighter, who had cunning battle skills, to be so obvious; not when Kimimaro was hoping to have a new thrill in this fight.

It didn't matter now; even if he lost his chance to show off his powers, at least Orochimaru got his wishes granted. As long as he was his faithful servant, Kimimaro's interests were only secondary importance. Once the whip crashed upon Nightshadow, Naruto grunted loudly at the force used. It was one of those superhuman powered moves that caused him to stumble. Not only that, the Death Knight knew that the whip had the ability to crush his bones, and what it made worse was how he figured out evading was not the most prudent decision.

And yet why was he just dodging? Was that his way of being a ninja? No, was that what he was supposed to do when his life was jeopardized? When did the Naruto that Hinata loved so much show cowardice? Enough was enough! Gripping on his runeblade tighter with confidence, Naruto instantly jammed the sword's end to the ground as a brake before flipping back on his feet. Meanwhile, a dark chakra blade formed in his left hand.

"Choke on this!" the silver haired demon yelled while his hand was in position, "Shadow Strike!" Without warning, Naruto hurled the venomous beam blade and allowed it to spin like a boomerang.

"Idiot…" said Kimimaro, while launching out his spine-whip before breaking the chakra blade into essence of energy, and permitting his weapon to dart straight for the kill. Seconds before it smashed into Naruto's skull, the Sound nin jolted a bit to witness another sign of Naruto vanishing. Although that warping move was still unknown to Kimimaro, it wasn't a big deal. All he needed to know was to figure out how to counter it. Since Naruto chose to disappear, naturally, the Sound nin safely assumed he would come at him from behind.

Therefore, Kimimaro spun around without haste, and launched out his whip with ferocious force. This time it might be enough to break that vampiric runeblade in two –or possibly even into three. He was sure that without that sword the Death Knight would be useless.

However, Kimimaro's attack only struck fresh air; and Naruto was nowhere to be seen. "What the hell…"

He felt his body system came to a dead stop when he noticed a presence with intense killing intent appeared right beside him on the left. Kimimaro didn't dare to move his pupils to look at who it was, since this must have been the Death Knight, Naruto. "I never knew you had a liking for hitting air, bone freak."

"Damn you…"

"How did you like me pretending to be predictable? It was a good act don't you think? I know you were observing me to watch my style of movement, and that's why I continued to showoff the same moves. But do you seriously expect that you could read me when I can move anywhere and anytime I want if I had the move "Blink"?"

"Bastard…" At the same time, Kimimaro felt his side sweating when two other Narutos suddenly appearing beside him. Their smirks rivaled the devil.

Suddenly, the Sound nin coughed blood as a foot crash against his chin, making him to be completely defenseless and creating plenty of openings all at once. "Chaos Rendan!" declared Naruto, who was commencing one of his fashionable deathblows. In perfect coordination the other two Kage Bunshins flew to the skies, surrounding that helpless fool with no means for him to escape. Next, they fired Mana Burns consecutively right at the stomach area.

Naruto would choose to aim for the heart, but where was the entertainment in that? Surely, causing pain was a form of discipline, but killing the targets meant that the fun session would come to an unwanted premature end. However, by hurting them badly enough but not taking their life meant there could be a next time to beat them up. Despite that Hinata's kindness did influence his natural decision-making; Naruto was still a bloodthirsty demon who loved pain.

More specifically, who loved to wound others –if they deserved it that was.

"My chakra…" Kimimaro not only felt pain, but his spiritual energy was also burned away to an extent that his high chakra capacity issue became a nuisance. Because of this amount, the Kage Bunshins could keep destroying the chakra until it reaches an absolute zero. Even if it may take some time to reach depletion, the Death Knight was all too welcomed to show him how having so much chakra was a disadvantage. "My chakra is being used against me…"

"You are absolutely right. What a smart man you are," praised the Death Knight, voice drenched with sarcasm while the Kage Bunshins kept blasting away. When Kimimaro couldn't help himself not to scream with agony, it delighted the demon hunter. "It's such a shame that it wasn't my wife who is attacking you… because she would strike your chakra organ compared to my poor aim." Naruto, from below, raised Nightshadow upward while covering it with dark chakra. "Well, it doesn't make a difference who deals with you, since I'm done with you." By now, Naruto was ready to attack. "Send my regards to hell, you son of a bitch…"

He grew tired of playing silly games; tasting blood was just too fabulous to ignore. Taking a great leap to the air, Naruto raised Nightshadow just above his head, and allowed gravity to do its beauty by letting Naruto come down. Whatever went up must come down eventually; and with Kimimaro being stuck in that deathly tangle there were no gaps to breakout.

_If I get defeated here… Orochimaru-sama can never take over Konoha… Not only that… this demon will still be a nuisance… I can't die here… not by somebody like him!_

"You will taste hell!" Naruto exclaimed with passion as he dived downward, cackling in the best devilish laugh.

Kimimaro had it with him.

"You won't defeat me! For the Sound!"

"You speak of nonsense! Accept your failure!"

"Never!"

In an unspeakable turn of events, Kimimaro miraculously summoned up an enormous amount of chakra, and rage, before using the spirit's force to push the two Kage Bunshins away with a tremendous power. Needless to say, the dark warrior's clones were destroyed in an instant, but Naruto wasn't discouraged. Although part of his plan was halted, the most crucial blow was expected to be performed by the original after all. Once Naruto managed to pull off the final rush, which was to plow though the target with extreme speed, the effort would be worth it.

And thus, not wasting anymore time, the Death Knight charged up the last bit of his dark energies hurriedly before plunging downward for a deadly ram using his demonic energized sword. Despite how quick Naruto was, just merely inches before the tip made contact on Kimimaro's spine, his body vanished out of the blue. What shocked Naruto was not how he missed. Rather, it was how the bone abomination managed to evade in such agility that his fully activated eyes were not able to read it, let alone predicting it.

In short, Kimimaro was just a little bit too… overpowering –all of a sudden.

The next flash of events contained Naruto getting kicked in the face –hard.

Falling, virtually helpless to make a difference, the demon hunter literally –in an ungraceful manner- fell face first as he ate dirt. Although the taste was horrifically nasty, who was Naruto to care? The important thing was that he was still alive, but he knew it wouldn't be for much longer if he didn't find a possible solution to deal with the current obstacle. Firstly, he couldn't read Kimimaro's speed. Secondly, he got punched without having a single clue how his opponent did that. And lastly, was it even possible for anyone's chakra base capacity to increase this significantly without warning? Naruto expected surprises in the spiritual department, meaning chakra change, but was it necessary for him to have a complete makeover –while not using makeup.

These new, although unique, black patterns were undeniably disgusting in Naruto's eye. Never had he seen such a poor fashion sense on… well… anybody!

"What in the hell is this…" Naruto coughed, standing back up as he brushed his clothes while looking nearly unaffected from the prior attack.

"Surprised, Death Knight?" Kimimaro inquired, smirking with more emotions than before. This man was not only stoic, but naturally creepy. "Not too many people have a chance to see this, you should consider yourself proud and special."

"You've ruined my vision forever now with this ugliness," Kimimaro was impressed to see how Naruto still had a sarcastic sense of humour despite the seriousness of the situation.

"Ugliness is only skin deep. You really should not just worry about the looks, when this new look of mine is more than enough to deal with you."

"What did you even do?"

"Orochimaru-sama's Curse Seal, Death Knight," the bone user explained, half casually, "A wonderful gift from a wonderful master, don't you think? I feel so much more alive after using this. I haven't felt that way in a long while now."

Naruto, no doubt, was very disgusted. He tightened his grip on his sword before holding it securely, "Wonderful master? Orochimaru? You must be insane."

"Don't judge Orochimaru-sama like you know him! You know nothing!"

"I don't care what kind of shit you are trying to pull," announced the Death Knight, pulling his weapon back as though he was ready to initiate a dash, "It won't be enough to stop me."

"We'll see, now, wouldn't we?"

And the two warriors collided again.

**_(Meanwhile with Hinata)_**

It was almost pointless to say that Hinata had a very dull battle, and more so when she figured out that her opponent was one of the Sound's so-called elites.

She expected more, a lot more.

It had been so long that she actually had a chance to fight when she worked in the medical field so often and her presence in hospitals were almost mandatory. It was a miracle to see how her skills in combat hadn't rust up after all this time. Then again, there was no point in taking glory after pummeling such a pathetic opponent. Despite how Jiroubo was such a disappointment, Hinata was still glad that at least one more problem was out of the way. It would be wrong for her to wish the Sound to be stronger for the sake of her self-interest. After all, it was safety of her home that mattered more, right?

Watching this chubby blimp unconscious and defenseless was almost pitiful to look at. Hinata rarely showed such disliking for anyone, but it became very common the moment someone laid hands on her son or daughter in the negative aspect. Hinata was a medic, and being a medical specialist, she obviously knew how to kill in more ways than one. She could end this life silently and painlessly, and the sole reason to that was because her victim was already unconscious.

Taking out one of her many knives on her belt with her eyes cold as ice and merciless, she raised it above her head as she cherished her time to find the perfect spot. She had many places to choose from; the genitals, the heart, the throat, internal organs, spine, stomach, lungs… they were all perfect! But she knew she could only pick one. How deliciously intriguing!

She finally decided at last… and then she raised her knife…

"Teme!" the Hyuuga heiress suddenly heard loud screaming coming at her from her right, "Take this!" Her eyes screamed horror when she saw three arrows already fired from his bow, and even more so when the three piercing armament struck three different spots on her blade. Luckily she released her hold on it just a millisecond before the arrows shot through her hand, but that didn't stop the newcomer from attacking. In fact, his persistence was frightening Hinata. When she stretched out her wings and flew, he practically hunted her down with everything he had left.

"Who… are you?" Hinata questioned this stranger's reason to attack her.

"How dare you hurt Jiroubo, witch!" roared Kidoumaru, gaining on her as she increased her speed in escaping. It was a new thrill for her to hear a new insult. Hinata had been called a lot of things for the past twenty nine years of living, but ironically she had never been accused to be named 'witch' when that was one of the most common words in the English literature despite they were Japanese. "I won't forgive you!"

Not showing any mercy, Kidoumaru yanked his spherical breaker back before he lashed it out to strike Hinata's back. His face lit up delightfully when the weapon crushed against her beautiful backside like he wanted it to. And of course, that intrusion was more than sufficient to send her off course before she failed to save herself from crashing.

That really made her ticked. She loved being clean, and now she was filthy… and it was all his doing! If he was so desperate to play hard, then she was more than willing to fool around. Kidoumaru would pay for defiling her stunning beauty.

"How dare you do this to me!" yelled Hinata, taking possession of another one of her knives, "Who the hell are you?"

Kidoumaru landed softly to show off his abilities while he still could. Just knowing that this enemy knew how to take flight as well did not please Hinata for a second. This only meant more trouble in the near future, and she prayed that her intuitions did not prove themselves to be right.

"Kidoumaru of the East, angelic witch," replied the said Sound nin, "Can't believe I have to fight such a gorgeous lady as my opponent. Must be my lucky day."

The Hyuuga princess flinched at the tone of voice. She was a married woman, and completely despised any moment when she was exposed to flirting. She didn't mind if Naruto flirted with her, because she always rewarded him the gift of making love thoroughly and passionately. And if was anyone else, her temper usually raised to an extent where she was unapproachable.

"Don't speak to me in such a perverted way, bastard," she hissed, silently preparing herself to slam her palm into his chest. She didn't want to prolong anything this time.

"I won't, don't worry," he said, laughing it off easily, "You'll be dead by then,"

And without warning, he opened his mouth to reveal a fully generated plasma powered up in the opening. Hinata instantly fled, attempting to evade.

**_(Shani's moment)_**

Pain, pain, and more pain… Shani strongly believed that deadly philosophy, and there wasn't anyone on the face of existence that could sway him from that sort of thinking. The little Death Knight could not picture women the same way ever again, and he had all the justifications he needed from the experiences of last night. Surviving last night made him love a woman's pair of breasts. Suffocating by them for hours on end made him realize how lovable they really were. It was almost no wonder why men had such attractions for them, and what disgusted even him was how he was starting to enjoy it.

No one could match Tayuya's breasts… Really… no one. He felt like a survivor through the toughest trials in life, and someone who needed comfort. What better way to do it than to offer physical healing kindness! Not like Shani lost his virginity in such early stages of the game, but he certainly had a fantastic illusion of it by physically touching a set of gorgeous mounds despite they were behind a shirt and lingerie. They were sexier than his mother's sets, and what a shocking revelation that was to Shani.

How this boy knew Hinata's set of undergarments was his own little secret. Then again, his mother always showed how much she loved his father, and often wanted new ways to please him. Not like Naruto minded such things, he was happy enough just to have a wife, but Hinata liked to spice things up a little bit to the extreme. It was almost common to have Hinata coming up to them and ask for opinions about the underwear she brought home. Obviously it was only used to seduce Naruto.

Usually, Kagari nosebleeded right on the spot as her eyes scan over the lingerie. Hinata always found it hard to ask Shani's opinion because he was a boy, but there were plenty of times that Kagari just wasn't available and her son had to do. He took it like a mature man, and gave suggestive comments.

"Kaa-san, sometimes I wonder if there is a need to buy such underwear. I mean, we all know what it's for. It's not like you are going to just wear them in public to secretly tell people that behind your shy, charming, medical specialist exterior you wear sexy undergarments that make men die for. I am just kidding, but think about it though. It's not like otou-san would hate it. He likes almost everything that you wear. It's senseless worrying, don't you think? If otou-san stops making love to you… then maybe you should get a little concerned, but it's just most likely that he isn't really in the mood –which is often, by the way. However, that's not really an issue, since you know what buttons to press to get him back alive… or you simply force him with your unspeakable, exquisite beauty."

Up to this date, Hinata still had no idea how her son was so dangerously sharp like his father. They were nearly identical, yet so different altogether.

Speaking of breasts, where in the hell was he? He felt fucked up. The right side of his back was still aching, and the only good thing was just it didn't hurt as bad as yesterday, but not like he really remembered clearly. His right arm was very much dead where moving it was almost an impossibility, and at the same time it was unquestionably tight as though it was wrapped up. His legs felt like little broken chicken wings. The only parts he could actually move were his head, torso, waist, and left arm and hand. He had suffered from injuries before, but never this severe and life threatening. There was always a first time for everything, and he didn't want to start cherishing it.

"Kuso…" he cursed when he still couldn't budge at all. But more importantly, where in the hell was he. Then he heard it from not too far away from here were dripping sounds like water. It was actually pleasant water flowing, as if a river was nearby. Maybe it was because he was next to one. "I would get myself some water…" he grunted more in annoyance, "but this body won't obey…"

"You want something to drink?" Shani suddenly caught a voice from behind him. He stiffened instantly, and not without good reason. Two things kept running through his mind. One was him, and the other was her –her as in Tayuya. From her voice, he could tell that she was fine and had plenty of strength. Him, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. With his condition this messed up, the girl behind him, and who was actually approaching him sweetly, could easily kill him with him having no means to retaliate. "Are you thirsty?"

"Did you do this?"

"Do what?" asked Tayuya innocently, and Shani despised that sort of facial expressions. It reminded him of Yamase and Umi. No, he didn't even want to think about them right now. Everything was too confusing, and he just wanted to run away from all these damned things. Although death was going a bit overboard, it was always a good solution.

"Did you save me? Why did you save me?"

She thought about it for a while, and then giggled. "I don't know, actually,"

Shani felt his face fell. "Wh-What do you mean, 'You don't know'? Aren't you supposed to give some thought into these things? Saving an enemy… are you insane? What if I take advantage of it and kill you afterwards?"

"You won't, I know that," Tayuya returned her words kindly with a happy smile.

"You obviously don't know me very well, Miss Sound ninja,"

"You don't know yourself very well, then,"

"What?"

"If you are going to take advantage of my help, you would've attacked me by now,"

"I am still too wounded to move, genius. Why did you help me… you must have your reasons. And I know that you were hugging me the entire night… I could hardly breathe while I slept…"

Shani almost gulped when he found her kneeling next to him, and more so once she started to rub his cheek and brush her hand through his hair gently. The little Death Knight, despite his cold personality, could not fight back a blush, in which Tayuya giggled as a result. That got Shani even more humiliated.

"But you were nice and warm, right?"

"I guess…"

"You were freezing last night, remember?"

"I don't think I was conscious to recall anything like that." Shani now really wanted her to stop touching him so affectionately, yet it was too comfortable to reject. Was he doing the right thing by letting her do this? Wasn't this considered harassment? This girl, she was so different from anyone else he had met. It made his heart hurt knowing that this beautiful, yet angelic dark red haired woman was an enemy. It did upset him, especially when she nursed him back up. However, he didn't ask for this, he wanted to die honourably… or just die simple.

"I saw someone falling from the skies not too long after I crashed here –no thanks to you, of course- and I got curious so I looked for you. When I found you… you were really hurt… and without some medical attention, you would've died…"

Shani smirked out of dark nature. "You should've let me die then. It would've been a very noble death. Why bother saving me? Isn't it all just pure stupid?"

Tayuya still smiled warmly, like Hinata, before she held his hand gently with her own soft ones. Shani didn't dare to look at her. Not because he was afraid, but rather he was scared of being indirectly seduced. Hopefully, Tayuya had no intention to use her beauty to set up any sort of dillusion of sexual advance, because with that delectable body of hers, she could literally do wonders. He could not give in now, not after all that strong and firm acting he gave. In fact, he hated being weak or showed anyone his frail, fragile points. Once more, she giggled to make his pride suffer more, but she did it out of good intentions to have a more fun discussion.

To the Forbidden child, such customs were as good as blasphemy.

"I would've killed you, yes," she continued, but she stopped fondling with his hand put held it firmly, "But I couldn't…"

That perked up his interests. "Why not? I am your enemy. We already fought another over three times, but it always ended in stalemate. You had your perfect chance!"

"I couldn't… because… because… I…"

His patience wore thin –fast. "Because what?"

"You… you looked like me when you were suffering…" That made no sense at all. Shani could do nothing other than stare blankly at her, and he had not carry a clueless face in almost a decade. He was never ignorant, he was always the intelligent one amongst his friends, and now he was rendered useless.

"Care to explain yourself with that justification, Miss Sound Lady?"

"I'm always in pain," she told him sadly, although their eyes did not meet another's, "There isn't a day that I am not hurt. Sometimes I am yelled at, sometimes I am called an idiot or moron… or slut if Orochimaru-sama feels like it, and maybe I have go test on some new drugs… that often makes my body hurt… And then later on I would be twitching or screaming because it hurts so much… I don't know why I have to keep doing this… When I found you, you looked like me… someone who is in pain and needs help but nobody wants to help you when you clearly need it. If you see that kind of rejection with your eyes, you would understand how painful it is to be abandoned and not taken care of when you have nothing to help yourself. I don't want something like that to happen on anyone else anymore."

Shani was bewildered and lost. After all that, he still failed to realize what she was trying to say. He could not put the facts together, for they seemed like random puzzle pieces that were not meant to be connected. He got some, and he did not understand the rest. "What? Drugs? You take drugs? I don't get it… Are you a drug dealer?"

"I am not a drug dealer, boy,"

"Then what are you?"

"I'm a human being like you, you know. I'm just… different…"

"I am different, too. So what are you saying?"

"I'm not like you!" she yelled, unintentionally forcing her grip on his arm too strongly. He winced immediately, but luckily she noticed and looked down apologetically. Shani smiled weakly, silently encouraging her to continue despite his pained hand. "You may be a demon, but I am Enhanced, a living warrior who lives only for the Sound! I only live to fight, obey, and never to disobey regardless of the circumstances. Orochimaru-sama is always right, we are always wrong and considered the idiotic who can't even take simple instructions right. I am tired of it! I hate it! I am not a loser! I am not just someone that people can just boss around! I don't want to live like that anymore… I really don't want to…"

And the mighty, mean, strong, hardheaded Tayuya began to cry. If Shani knew her better, he would realize that she never wept out loud –especially in front of someone that she barely knew.

Shani became sympathetic –for once. "Miss Sound Lady… I understand what you're going through… but can you please not cry?" Why did he have to go saying that? When a woman was crying, as a male he should be doing his best to comfort, not making matters worse. Unfortunately, he believed that he messed up –badly. To make up for his mistakes, Shani (who did not fully know what could be done) weakly wrapped his movable arm around her after barely sitting up, and pulled her in a small embrace. Despite that she was shocked, Tayuya did not fight back. In fact, she melted into it warmly. Shani took this time to observe her once again. Indeed, Tayuya appeared to have a mature body, but her nature resembled a teenager that was not much older than himself. Was he imagining things, or was he being too critical. He banished that thought for a moment, knowing that making her smile again was just a bit more important. "It's okay, Miss Sound Lady, no one is going to hurt you. No one is going to give you drugs that you don't want to take. Everything is going to be okay, I promise. I am not going to force you to anything that you don't want."

The flute girl did stop her weeping, in which Shani was grateful for, but she still sobbed occasionally. "I am scared though…" she told him, whimpering as her strong arms held him closer than before.

"For what?"

"I am afraid that Orochimaru-sama will hurt me again for not… n-not being strong enough… I've failed him again… because I wasn't able to beat you… and I even saved your life when I am not supposed to. I don't want to get beaten up…"

"You don't have to do that anymore!" exclaimed the Forbidden child, completely outraged despite he didn't know this girl well. Actually, he was stunned that he summoned a zeal that great. "You saved my life… and I am going to help yours, Miss Sound Lady. You… even if you are an enemy… you are a good, kind-hearted person… I can see that… You don't deserve to be treated like that. I'll help you find a way."

Tayuya almost cried again, but she kept her emotions together than letting it crumble. "Demon boy… you would do that for me?"

"I just don't want to continue living a life with a huge debt," said Shani, snickering his usual dark grin, "Come back to Konoha with me, Miss Sound Lady, I am sure Oba-chan, my grandmother, will think of something. She is a woman of pure wisdom; better than my father even. Start your life anew, okay?"

The Sound girl blushed despite herself. "Can you not call me Miss Sound Lady?"

"I don't know your name,"

"My name…" she hesitated for a reason that Shani could not tell, "My name is Tayuya."

"Last name?"

"I don't have one… I was never given one… I was just called Tayuya and that's it."

"Really…" the Death Knight seemed sad as he said it out loud. The girl wisely chose to light up the mood no matter how difficult it was, but it didn't go unnoticed.

"What's your name, demon boy?"

"Shani," said the Forbidden child, "I am Uzumaki Shani."

The duo did not realize that they were still holding another, but didn't release just yet. The Death Knight, however, did not see her blushing. What a rare sight he missed indeed. "Ano… Shani-san… Do you still want something to drink? Are you hungry?"

"Yes, that'll be a pleasure."

From the back of their minds, these two knew this was a good start to a beautiful friendship regardless of their backgrounds.

Who said Sound and Konoha could not be friends anyway? At that moment, Shani and Tayuya thought of that philosophy was as good as blasphemy.

**_(At that instant)_**

"Hinata…" Naruto mumbled to no one in particular once he felt her chakra intensity went up. Rather, a lot higher than before, but for what though? It wasn't crucial now, not when his worries for his wife became number one on his list.

The Death Knight grimaced significantly once he found his enemy suddenly came at him with a dashing stab. Luckily, Naruto managed to twist his sword a second before he was struck in the heart. "Something on your mind?" inquired Kimimaro, snickering as if he already caught the dark warrior in his grasp. "You look a little distracted."

"I don't have time to play with you," Naruto replied, a glint appearing in his eye. Shifting around to get more room, Naruto didn't take long to react when the chance was his. He immediately broke the sword lock they shared, and then raised it above his head as he slammed downward –hard. Although Kimimaro saved himself from his head being split open, the force itself was more than enough to push him downward. However, that effect was temporary. Kimimaro knew what Naruto was trying to do. Any moron could tell he was trying to escape from this fight for whatever reason he had when Naruto began to fly away.

"You think you can just come and go?" Kimimaro called out as he laughed and reached out his fingertips to the skies. Next, he fired out his bone bullets in a wildfire when Naruto expected no such attack. It turned out that the Death Knight cried in torment as the bullets dug forcefully into his back and wings, making him lose his composure and zapped all the strength required to keep up his balance. As a result of this nasty intrusion Naruto crashed landed, but just fortunate enough not to break a leg or arm. "I'm not going to let you do that."

Kimimaro laughed insultingly to deepen Naruto's humiliation.

"Damn you…" the Death Knight seethed under his breath as he slowly got back with his blade used as support. Under anger, Naruto's usual rationality drastically decreased, and soon enough the Death Knight charged right back at the bone monstrosity with a punch aiming straight for the face. He made sure this attack would hurt. However, having the Curse Seal activated, Kimimaro easily turned his body by the smallest inch to move away from the incoming fist. Worse of all, he even caught it, in which shocked the Death Knight noticeably. Naruto winced at the strength of the grip.

"You are a hasty one. Did you come back for me to beat you again? It would be such an honour." Kimimaro, in return, generated chakra into his left hand, and sent electric painful sensations throughout Naruto's entire body both externally and internally. Screaming was one of the only things he could do, and it brought much delight to the Sound nin's ears as his howling intensified each passing second. Knowing that his opponent was virtually defenseless, perhaps it was a good time to end it. Sure, he had his fun, but the main course was just coming.

Death was a meal that surpassed all other varieties that could be served.

"Looks like you can't even help yourself now, can you, Death Knight," the bone user taunted hideously while still continuing his dreadful torment with the Death Knight still in his grasp fidgeting helplessly. To make matters worse, he heightened the charge two fold. That was when he moved his sword a foot or two above Naruto's throat. "Maybe it is the best moment for you to see hell, ne? Such a shame I can't join you. Say hi to the Maker for me, Death Knight, I am sure Kami-sama would have an endless supply of divine wrath for a demon like you."

In total paralysis, Naruto could not believe how powerless he really was. Despite how much pain he was suffering, he desperately tried to budge, yet had no result that was helpful. No matter what he did, he was still frozen like a sick puppy that had no strength to disobey its master. And if he didn't react now, that sharp ended bone sword would be through his throat in a matter of seconds. Naruto was so sure that was to become reality soon enough.

Kimimaro lunged his sword down at last. "Shi-ne-nassai (Die)!"

Was this the end?

**_AN: Over half a year of no update and I made this. Well, I supposed it's better than not writing at all. Feel free to tell me your suggestions and ideas. Yeah, I really don't want to start making my own ideas on this fiction when I have 'Simplicity is Complexity' to worry about. That story is just easier to write than action. Why the hell did I go action anyway? I hate that more than writing fluff!_**

_**Yes, OpForce is a moron. I said it, and I am so not proud of it. If you care enough to review, then I thank you. If you don't care, then I don't care either. It's not like anyone gives a damn about what I write these days. If you really do want me to continue this (Because I feel this is a total waste of my time), please say so and save me the trouble of using my overworked brain. Thank you.**_


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